eBusiness Weekly
Livingstone Marufu
After 12 months of hard work in farms an average small-scale farmer still faces a big task to sell the crop and realise profits.
Despite Government’s efforts to decentralise, the marketing system is still staked against small-scale producers due to bureaucracy, transport, banking and middlemen.
The problems are not unique to the tobacco sector only as small scale farmers in cotton, maize and soya beans production also suffer the same predicament.
Tobacco
Thousands of small-scale farmers are losing an estimated $7 million to $10 million annually after being duped to sell their crop for a trifle to some unscrupulous tobacco merchants without their consent.
Interestingly, out of the 148 000 farmers who registered to grow tobacco during 2017/2018 season, close to 100 000 farmers are small-scale holder farmers.
Tobacco is the highest foreign currency earner with close to $1,4 billion realised yearly and these resilient small scale farmers continue to grow the crop under very difficult conditions.
The Government has introduced incentives small-scale tobacco farmers with 12,5 percent as part of efforts to stimulate the appetite to grow more tobacco to earn more foreign currency while at the same time rewarding them for earning forex.
These efforts are hampered by tobacco merchants who allegedly register independent small scale farmers to their auction floors when they haven’t supplied them with inputs.
Contractors such as Agritrade Leaf Tobacco are accused of adding tobacco producers to their list of contract farmers without the grower’s knowledge and consent.
But both deny the charges
Their list of contracted growers has been growing even after the selling season had started.
This unethical practice has resulted in farmers being held up at auction floors, unable to sell their tobacco as they are required by the TIMB to get a decontracting letter from the contractors.
In desperation, some farmers end up selling to the contractors to avoid hassles of spending more time in the Harare.
Alious Nyarambi a farmer from Saratoga Farm in Goromonzi told Business Weekly that small scale farmers continue to suffer prejudice from all levels of marketing and TIMB should act up to protect them.
“From the very day we come to the floors we continue to suffer untold prejudice as we spend two or three days in the queues only to be overtaken by some trucks which were not around by the time we came. During that process of auctioning, your bales fail to go through with auctioneers suggesting that you are contracted to these small tobacco merchants whose name you cannot even pronounce.
“After these tiresome processes you will be left with no choice but to sell for a chickenfeed to the merchants,” said Nyarambi.
It is assumed that the suffering also continues even at the hands of the middlemen who tempt farmers with cash at very low prices.
Some tobacco farmers have resorted to selling their crop to middlemen who are offering instant cash.
Tobacco farmers said they were being lured by instant cash and better service offered by the middlemen.
The farmers said they were aware that they were being duped by middlemen.
The middlemen buy tobacco from farmers for a song for resell at the auction floors where they get better prices for the same crop.
But due to the persistent cash shortages farmers are opting to get instant cash.
Chinhoyi farmer Marvelous Mutema, said it was better to sell their crop to middlemen than to wait for the long process at the auction floors.
“I came to the auction floors last week and sold my crop on Monday, but I am still to get my money. The money takes long to reflect and at times farmers are forced to open new bank accounts instead of using the existing ones. The other challenge is that we do not have decent accommodation,” he said.
“As we speak, I have not eaten anything since yesterday and I am a sick man. I have to eat first before I take my medication. I do not know how long I am going to be here since I have not received my money.”
The middleman can now sell tobacco to the auction floors at a higher price.
The country may be celebrating that tobacco farmers have so far earned over $515 million, but most of the money is not going to the farmers who suffer all year round.
Transporters now form part of the formidable corrupt tobacco merchants syndicate as they also pay farmers and later resell the crop for a profit.
Given the frustrations associated with tobacco selling, farmers end up selling their golden leaf for a song.
Maize
Maize is the country’s staple food and almost every family in the country depends on it.
For a long time maize was a source of livelihood to many families and small scale farmers produced the cereal when large scale farmers opted for cash crops like tobacco, cotton and horticultural produce.
To show the importance of the crop, the country suffers a lot whenever there is drought.
Just like tobacco farmers, maize farmers sell their crops to middleman for $240 per tonne, who later sell it to GMB for $390.
The reason for selling to these people is that these middlemen offer instant cash and various family challenges which need instant cash rather than to wait for a month or so from GMB.
Currently, there are various teams moving around to buy maize at very low price for resell to the GMB.
Agricultural experts suggested that there is need by Government or marketing boards to set up depots in rural areas to avoid losing more maize to these merchants.
Farmers will not stop selling their maize to these merchants as they have pressing issues around.
One such farmer in Gora, Shamva Tedious Mabure said: “We can’t wait to sell our maize to GMB when our children are being chucked out of school due to failure to pay school fees.
“GMB should try to buy early to avoid losing maize to middlemen. The authorities should offer a bit of some cash to persuade more farmers to sell their crop to them.”
Soya beans
The leguminous crop provides the country with crude oil, which will be used for cooking oil manufacturing.
Zimbabwe needs 300 000 tonnes of soyabeans and the country is only managing 50 000 tonnes due to complications surrounding the growing of the crop.
A very good farmer produces an average of four tonnes per hectare but majority of small scale farmers are producing 0, 9 tonnes of soya beans per hectare.
From that very same harvest, middlemen are offering instant cash of between $350 and $400 per tonne and later resell it for $780 per tonne.
Due to a number of survival challenges small scale farmers find themselves selling their crop for peanuts to the middlemen.
Cotton
Recently, it has been discovered that private buyers are fuelling serious side marketing manoeuvres as it emerged various names of dead people and children under 10 are appearing in the Agriculture and Marketing Authority (AMA’s) data base listed as beneficiaries of contract schemes.
Latest investigations revealed that private cotton companies, particularly Southern Cotton of Zimbabwe and Alliance Ginners have registered several ghost farmers to justify the hectarage they claim to have sponsored or financed.
It has emerged that Gokwe and Sanyati are the main areas where about 60 percent of cotton growers were financed under the Presidential Cotton Input Scheme, which is administered by Cottco.
Despite various financiers not contributing towards the growth of the crop, they are offering packaging materials towards the selling of the white gold.
Various farmers’ organisations in the country are calling for Government to set aside dedicated funds towards capacitating boards like GMB, TIMB and AMA in order to control side-marketing and vicious middleman.
Farmers are engaging Government towards the initiative with tangible results expected soon.
