Minister Bimha
Tawanda Mangoma in CHIREDZI
Sugarcane farmers in Mkwasine have threatened to switch to other cash crops if Government fails to intervene by finding an alternative miller to Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe, which they say is giving them a raw deal.Addressing Chiredzi Press Club on Friday last week, chairman of the Mkwasine Sugarcane Farmers Association Retired Colonel Dennis Masomere said the gains of land reform continued to be threatened.
He said Government should take serious steps to address the Division of Proceeds (DOP) case which has been topical since 2014.
DOP is the monetary ratio which the miller charges farmers for processing every tonne of sugarcane into raw sugar.
In 2014, Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Mike Bimha set the interim DOP in which the miller received 17 percent, while farmers enjoyed 83 percent.
The ministry then consulted independent consultant Ernst & Young which concluded that the miller was supposed to get 23 percent, while 77 percent goes to the farmer on every processed tonne of sugarcane.
This meant farmers had been enjoying a six percent overdraft since 2014, hence Tongaat’s decision to start recovering its money backdating to 2014.
Rtd Col Masomere said: “The DOP issue is a topical matter which affects the farmer and the miller in one way or another. What we want is a scenario in which everyone survives in this industry.
“In our view, the DOP ratio set by Ernst and Young will not only see the farmer running losses, but is rather a threat to all the gains which had been recorded because of the Land Reform Programme.”
Rtd Col Masomere said Dr Bimha should urgently address the issue.
Chiredzi West Member of Parliament Cde Darlington Chiwa said all A2 farmers in the sugar industry were not producing at commercial levels.
He said most subsidies which were enjoyed by farmers with below 120 hectares were scrapped by Tongaat, hence all A2 farmers were struggling.
“DOP is one clause in the Sugar Production Control Act which is creating all these problems,” said Cde Chiwa.
“It’s just an issue of sharing costs at a commercial level, of which people being forced to share the cake with Tongaat are not even close to be named commercial farmers because of their small pieces of land.”
He said the Ministry of Industry and Commerce was failing to bail out the farmers.
A legal expert in the sugar industry Mr Wellington Muzenda said there was need to have the Sugar Production Control Act amended to suit prevailing circumstances.
“This Act has very few amendments although it’s more than 50-years-old,” he said.