Tobacco farmers operating illegally
By Tabitha Mutenga, Features and Supplements Editor
SOME tobacco farmers are contravening Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) rules and regulations by evading registration which allows them to auction their crop during the tobacco marketing season, a Cabinet minister has said.
Although there are over 78 000 tobacco growers who registered as tobacco producers in the 2015/2016 production year, it emerged that many farmers are selling their crop using one registration or grower’s number.
Last year, 96 000 growers registered to produce tobacco.
Appearing before the Lands and Agriculture Parliamentary Portfolio Committee last week, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister, Joseph Made, said farmers many farmers were not registering as growers and were therefore using others’ registration information to access auction floors.
He revealed that some farmers from the same family did not even bother registering with the TIMB and just used a single grower’s number to selling their crop.
Farmers have to register and get a grower’s number to participate in auction floors.
The registration fee is pegged at US$10, with a penalty for late registration.
According to TIMB, farmers pay late registration fees as provided for by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Rules 2000 as amended. Registration fees before October 31 is at US$10, while those who register after this date up to December 31 pay an additional fine of US$10.
Registrations done between January and the time floors open pay US$40’; farmers who register when the floors have already opened pay US$90.
Made pointed out that it was illegal for farmers not to have growers’ numbers from TIMB when selling tobacco; this, he said, was stipulated by the TIMB Act.
“Farmers should have their own grower’s numbers as individuals. It is an offence to sell tobacco using someone’s name and above all tobacco is a special crop that needs to be traced. Because of traceability issues, we should be able to trace the origins of the crop and without a grower’s number it will be difficult for us to trace the origins of the crop,” Made said.
He highlighted that such practices promoted things like side marketing that fueled unscrupulous and criminal activities at the auction floors, causing congestion.
He said unregistered farmers come to the auction floors to monitor the registered growers whom they asked to sell their crop. They did this to ensure that they were not cheated of their hard earned cash by the registered farmers.
“Using one grower’s number is an attempt to avoid paying the registration fees. It normally backfires when a number is blocked say for nesting or the person who would have been paid for the tobacco refuses with the money as there is no honour among thieves,” said TIMB public relations manager, Isheunesu Moyo, said.
Moyo added: “Registration is for growing and not only marketing. Some people use one growers number as a way of side marketing as they will be trying to avoid paying back loans they would have borrowed to fund their activities. This also is not good for the industry.”
Moyo also revealed that the fact that many farmers were using one grower’s number, meant that many had not opened bank accounts as stated by the 2016 Tobacco Marketing Procedures.
The procedures read: “All proceeds from the sale of tobacco will be paid through bank accounts. In this regard, farmers are required to open accounts with banks of their choice to facilitate the payments. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has engaged banks to offer bank accounts to tobacco growers at favourable conditions which include waiving of charges for maintaining bank accounts.
“According to RBZ, banks will only require tobacco farmers to furnish them with their national identity and tobacco grower’s number in order to open a bank account.”
Farmers without grower’s numbers had no bank accounts and were therefore sharing one bank account.
Registration for the 2016/2017 agricultural season is in progress and as usual, the TIMB encourages farmers to register before October 31, 2016 to avoid penalties for late registration.
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