(HERALD) No to circus at auction floors
No to circus at auction floorsSAME old story coming from the tobacco auction floors, same old style of starting the selling season, same old problems that seem to haunt the opening of the floors year-in-year-out. Reports that on Tuesday, and for the third year running, auction floors failed to open are cause for concern.
This is a story that has ceased to be funny. This is a story that needs a new script and this is a story that is fast turning the auction floors into a circus each time they open.
A date was set for the opening of the season and the tobacco associations and other stakeholders were fully aware of the new demands, which should have been dealt with before Tuesday.
When one of our reporters came back from the floors saying the auction had not taken off I thought he was calling a bluff, only to realise that indeed, as was the case last year and the year before, farmers would not sell a leaf until their demands were met.
They are demanding a better support price and a "viable" exchange rate.
In this instance it is not clear whether it is a case of late submission of proposals on the part of the farmer associations or the issues at stake require more time to resolve hence the April 22 target would not be met, considering many stakeholders are preoccupied with the elections.
The opening of the tobacco auction floors mark a very important date not just on the agriculture calendar but for the economy as a whole.
Tobacco is still the single largest foreign currency earner ahead of platinum or gold and should naturally be accorded due
attention.
It is of no use for growers to hold the Government to ransom because such confrontation will not yield the desired results.
It is also uneconomic for the grower to sell his crop at a loss.
The last time I checked farmers needed at least $40 billion to grow a hectare of tobacco hence the $55 000 per kg would need a serious review.
This scenario demands that the parties involved sit together and strategise to avoid such delays as we have witnessed again this season.
The noise and shouting matches that usually characterise the first day of trade are not necessary and should be avoided in future.
The opening day should be a serious business day that should, to a certain extent, set the tone for the rest of the selling season.
Delays in trading have their own consequences.
In some instances farmers, particularly the small growers would have borrowed money against their first day sales and will thus not be able to pay back on time hence the anger when this does not happen.
Banks, from which many farmers would have borrowed, would also be awaiting their dues to balance their books.
Tobacco is one of the country’s major foreign currency earners and as such we expect that its importance to the economy is given due attention.
We hope between now and next Tuesday the pricing issue would have been resolved.
The economy can not ill-afford another false start.
As things stand, Tobacco Growers president Mr Wilfanos Mashingaidze and the Zimbabwe Indigenous Commercial Farmers Union president Mr Wilson Nyabonda insist the ball is in the Government’s court.
BLACKOUTS
The power blackouts being experienced by countries in the region are real, emphasising the need for Zimbabwe and its partners to adopt an energy policy that will ameliorate the effects of the regional shortage while addressing future availability.
For the first time in history I experienced one such in South Africa last week.
Of course back home it has become almost normal not to have electricity for certain periods.
I had been reading about the blackouts in Zambia and South Africa before but I was just caught off guard when it happened.
Of course these are never comfortable but I admired the systematic way in which it is being done in South Africa.
Specific areas are made aware of the specific times and days during which power will be rationed.
Shops will tell you to come back at 2pm when power is back and come 2pm sharp, all systems are back on.
This helps in terms of planning on the part of business or even households.
Such systematic outages may not be as painful as the ones we experience here.
This is something Zesa used to do as well but of late you just get switched off in the middle of cooking in cases of households, or in the middle of some industrial processes.
We have heard of companies that lose trillions of dollars worth of production due to the unpredictability of the outages.
If only a more systematic way of doing it could be adopted by Mr Fullard Gwasira and company, life would be much easier for all of us.
Tit-bits
l In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. —Thomas Jefferson.
l Expect people to be better than they are; it helps them to become better. But don’t be disappointed when they are not; it helps them to keep trying. — Merry Browne.
In God I trust!
Feedback: victoria.ruzvidzo@zimpapers.co.zw
posted by MrK @ 2:49 PM
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