THE Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (Timb) has put in place a transporters framework to protect growers from unscrupulous carriers during the marketing season which kicks off next month.
The 2024 auction tobacco marketing season will open on March 13, while contract tobacco sales will commence on the following day.
Timb public affairs officer Chelesani Tsarwe told NewsDay Farming that the organisation has adopted a number of measures to protect growers and contractors from unfair practices.
“Timb now has a transporters framework which seeks to ensure all transporters are regulated to protect growers from unscrupulous transporters during the marketing season.”
“As we prepare for the opening of the 2023/24 marketing season, the board is in the process of doing physical inspections of all floors to ensure they are compliant to operate,” she said.
“Currently, the board is undertaking the third round of the crop assessment exercise. This is a national tobacco forecasting exercise which will help us determine the national yield and production.
The tobacco regulator has also put in place measures to curb side marketing of tobacco during the 2023/24 marketing season.
“Timb has an inspectorate department whose role is to investigate and penalise those involved in side marketing. To curb side marketing, the department has also been decentralised to all regions with inspectors on the ground to bring order and sanity during the marketing season.”
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Tsarwe said technology had revolutionised the tobacco industry, particularly in bale booking, floor capturing and stop order computations. In bale booking, technology has enabled capturing of grower numbers and ticket scanning and automated scales for mass capturing.
“There are also stop order computations that handle all deductions which include levies, legacy debts from a central point to ensure debt recovery efficiency,” she said.
On digital, the organisation is using webservices for booking and stop order computations and windows handheld terminals for scanning and capturing, Tsarwe said.
She said tobacco prices on auction floors would be determined by the bidding process, the highest bid being the final price on every tobacco bale. A grade-price matrix derived from the average grade prices from the previous day auction sales will determine the floor price for every grade on the contract sales.
As of February 23, 129 336 growers had registered in preparation for the upcoming season, down from 148 527 growers who registered during the same period last year. Contract farmers make up 92% of the registered growers.
Zimbabwe had exported tobacco worth US$358 million in the period under review, compared to US$112,8 million realised in 2023.
Tobacco contracting has over the years taken precedence due to economic hardships and currency instability which has seen many farmers failing to go back to the field using their own resources.
However, the system also opened
