Forex eludes farmers

The decision by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to pay tobacco farmers 50 percent of their sale proceeds in foreign currency has brought with it both joy, confusion and despair, The Sunday Mail Society has established.

Although farmers welcomed the move, the delay in accessing their money and the failure to understand how they can access the foreign currency remain the grey areas of this otherwise noble idea.

In a bid to motivate growers, the central bank announced that from this season, farmers would be paid 50 percent of their proceeds in foreign currency and the remainder in RTGS dollars using the prevailing interbank exchange rate. A visit to several tobacco auction floors revealed that apart from the low prices, the farmers are yet to fully understand how they can access the foreign currency.

Mr Mostaf Makota, a farmer from Hurungwe who sold his 12 bales at the Boka Auction Floors, said he is yet to fully understand the process that a farmer has to go through to access the foreign currency.

“To be honest with you, I prefer the previous payment methods in which we instantly got paid. I honestly don’t know how these nostro accounts work, nor do I understand how interbank rates are calculated,” Mr Makota said.

Mr Lloyd Takure, another farmer from Wedza, has been shuttling between the Boka Auction Floors and the bank during the past two weeks. “I sold my tobacco on June 6 but I am yet to get paid. From the floors I was referred to the bank and the bank referred me back to the floors. Today I was told that my payment voucher is yet to be processed and I will have to go back home empty-handed,” a clearly dejected Mr Takure said.

He said the payment process is time-consuming and complicated.

“Accessing one’s money is now difficult and more expensive than the farming process itself. This discourages us from farming tobacco,” added Mr Takure.

Mrs Fungai Munjanja, a farmer from Featherstone, has equally been frustrated by the payment process.

“I do not understand these processes. My plea to the relevant authorities is for them to implement payment systems that are faster and efficient. For the past two weeks, I have been squatting at a relative’s place and this is draining me financially,” she said. Most of the farmers said banks were demanding invoices when they approached them to withdraw cash from their foreign currency accounts.

Mr Moses Bias, the Boka Tobacco Auction Floors operations manager, attributed the delays in the processing of the farmers’ payments to the dispute between Paynet and the banks.

“The dispute between banks and Paynet has seriously affected our operations. As you can see, I am going through each individual farmer’s payment voucher and this is time-consuming. In the past, we used to do this electronically. This saved a lot of time,” Mr Bias said. He also said farmers should be educated on how the new system works.