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Tag: Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board

  • Zimbabwe to Crack Down on Side Marketing

    Zimbabwe to Crack Down on Side Marketing

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) is cracking down on the side marketing of tobacco leaf during the 2022 selling season, according to The Sunday Mail.

    “We have engaged relevant authorities to come up with a Statutory Instrument (SI) on side marketing,” said Saviour Muvirimi, TIMB head of inspectorate. “We also recruited informers in all farming areas in order to receive information on the presence of illegal buyers in communities.”

    Police would be brought in to arrest those caught side marketing, according to Muvirimi. “TIMB will be making constant radar sweeps on frequency of sales on grower numbers with the view to identify grower numbers perpetuating side marketing. Respective individuals will be called to explain these sales, and if we are not convinced, we will block and suspend the grower numbers and refer such criminal elements to the Zimbabwe Republic Police for arrest.”

    “Farmers who side market tobacco actually play around statistics by adjusting estimates,” he said, adding that the police department would be strict on addressing adjustment of estimates by farmers.

    “TIMB will not hesitate to suspend sales and revoke licenses from contractors involved in side marketing. (We will) increase our surveillance patrols in farming communities in order to identify makorokoza’s (dealers) and errant licensed contractors engaging themselves in side marketing,” Muvirimi said.

  • Decentralized Marketing Continues in Zimbabwe

    Decentralized Marketing Continues in Zimbabwe

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    The decentralized auctioning of tobacco is now a permanent feature of Zimbabwe’s tobacco marketing system, reports The Herald, citing the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).

    Previously, tobacco sales were conducted exclusively in the capital, Harare, causing farmers to incur transportation cost and forcing them to spend days away from their fields. The centralized auction system dates from the time that Zimbabwe’s tobacco industry was dominated by commercial plantations with a limited number of large-scale growers.

    Following the land reform program of the early 2000s, Zimbabwean tobacco production is now characterized by small-scale production, with hundreds of thousands of participants each selling relatively small amounts of tobacco.

    Decentralized sales started in 2021, with floors opening in Marondera, Rusape and Karoi Mashonaland West, among other locations.

    TIMB CEO Meanwell Gudu said decentralization of sales would continue in 2022 because it brought convenience and reduced transport cost to farmers who sold their golden leaf at the nearest town.

    “The decentralization is very positive because it is in line with government policy on devolution,” he said.

    During the 2021-2022 summer cropping season, Zimbabwean farmers put just over 105,000 ha of land under tobacco, down from 106,494 ha last year.

    According to the TIMB, more than 121,000 farmers had registered to grow tobacco during the 2021-2022 season by Dec. 31, a decrease from the 144,462 growers who had signed up during the same period the previous year.

  • Fewer Tobacco Growers in Zimbabwe

    Fewer Tobacco Growers in Zimbabwe

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    The number of tobacco growers in Zimbabwe has declined by nearly one fifth, reports The Herald, citing the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).

    More than 120,000 people registered to grow tobacco for the current season, compared with 144,462 who registered during the same period last year.

    The decline is attributed to the TIMB’s stricter grower vetting process and challenges facing the tobacco industry.

    “Many farmers have tried and have fallen short, which is why we have less registered farmers,” said TIMB Public Affairs Officer Chelesani Moyo. “We place more pride in having fewer but legitimate tobacco growers whom we know will follow due diligence in all tobacco production processes and produce tobacco in quality ranges one to three by 2025.”

    Tobacco Association Zimbabwe President George Seremwe blamed the decline in registrations on the fact that some farmers had incurred losses during the previous season.

    “Too much cartels on one cake in the industry,” he said. “Surrogate contractors short changed farmers last season. We cannot have tobacco farmers not paid from last season up to now.”

    Following complaints that some buyers were charging excessive premiums for inputs, manipulating prices and paying late, the TIMB has cracked down on contractors. Recently, the regulator also announced stiffer penalties for side marketing.

    In related news, the government has given farmers who are still planting tobacco as a result of erratic rainfall at the start of the current farming season until Jan. 10 to destroy seedbeds.

    Under normal circumstances, Zimbabwe requires tobacco farmers to destroy their seedbeds by Dec. 31 each year to prevent the spread of pests and diseases.

  • Stiffer Penalties for Side Marketing in Zimbabwe

    Stiffer Penalties for Side Marketing in Zimbabwe

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) of Zimbabwe plans to introduce stiffer penalties for “side marketing” of tobacco, reports Daily News. Side marketing is a form of contract default in which a farmer agrees to grow for one buyer but sells to another. When this happens, the contracting merchant not only loses his tobacco but also the agricultural inputs he provided to the farmer.

    “TIMB has zero tolerance to side marketing,” said TIMB public relations officer Chelesani Moyo. “We are encouraging all stakeholders involved in the production of tobacco to stop the practice and make the tobacco farming business sustainable in Zimbabwe as we look ahead to the 2022 tobacco marketing season.”

    At the same time, the TIMB has introduced measures to protect farmers from being shortchanged by contractors through underfunding and overcharging inputs.

    The organization is currently analyzing the latest submissions from contractors who previously were not compliant.

    “We have 37 licensed contractors, and nine out of the 37 are partially compliant because they have submitted partial regulatory information that we require,” said Moyo.

    “We gave them up until Dec. 31, 2021, to ensure they are fully compliant. We are going to suspend those who are noncompliant, and farmers will be released and allowed to be contracted to other schemes.”