Chief Chanje bemoans delayed payment to farmers
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Thu 06 May 2010, 03:20 CAT
CHIEF Chanje in Chipata has said people in his area are bitter with delays by tobacco out-grower companies to pay them.
And Chipata District Farmers Association chairperson James Mwale has said the farmers have mounted pressure on the association due to the delay by the companies to pay them.
In an interview yesterday, chief Chanje said most tobacco farmers who sold their produce have not been paid.
“We are fed up with these delays by mostly Alliance One and Eastern Fodya Association of Zambia (EFAZ) to pay the farmers. You know people in my area depend on farming. Now if payments delay like this, then things cannot go well,” he said.
Chief Chanje said the only out-grower company that was not delaying was Africa Leaf.
“Africa Leaf is paying but I don’t know the problem with these others. So I am planning to summon the leaders of these companies at my palace so that they could explain what has prompted this delay,” he said.
Chief Chanje said the delay in paying the farmers would have a negative impact on loan recoveries.
“If they delay to pay the people, how are the people going to pay off the loans? Let them pay the farmers because the season opened a long time ago,” he said.
And chief Chinunda has expressed concern over the late payment.
Chief Chinunda has said most out-grower companies had not yet started buying tobacco in his area. And Mwale said the tobacco companies had not been paying since April 22 this year.
“They have not been paying since the 22nd of last month, they have no money. They are saying they are waiting for budget transfer. I don’t know whether it’s from Malawi or from Lusaka, I don’t know. As it is now, we have a problem because farmers are just trying to find out the correct position,” said Mwale.
Labels: CHIEF CHANJE, CHIPATA, CHIPATA DISTRICT FARMRAS ASSOCIATION, EFAZ, JAMES MWALE, TOBACCO
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Ex-UNIP MP advises govt to intervene in tobacco industry
Written by Christopher Miti in Chipata
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 11:31:14 PM
FORMER Chipangali UNIP member of parliament Lucas Phiri has appealed to the government to intervene in the problems affecting the tobacco industry in Eastern Province because the institutions entrusted to run the industry have failed.
In an interview, Phiri said the failure of Tobacco Board of Zambia (TBZ) and Eastern Fodya Association of Zambia (EFAZ) to run the tobacco industry was evidenced by their
failure to open the sheds in areas such as Mgubudu and Chipangali.
"We have reported a lot of complaints to both TBZ and EFAZ about the problems that people are facing. The people are spending sleepless nights in the cold in most of these sheds. We had asked these institutions to look for alternative places where they can be buying tobacco from to avoid congestion because most of the time those that have money are the ones that are selling tobacco while mere farmers are not selling their tobacco although it is taken to the sheds. And this has made us conclude that EFAZ does not represent the interests of farmers because they are on business. Even TBZ has failed. We are asking the provincial minister, if he stands for development and has the people at heart, to go to the sheds and see how the farmers are suffering because they are sleeping in the cold," he said.
Phiri said the farmers were not blaming TBZ and EFAZ for the tobacco problems but that they were talking ill of the government.
"It’s sad that farmers face a lot of difficulties. They face difficulties when growing tobacco and face difficulties again when selling tobacco. This is where it pains the farmer because he is treated like a slave. These organisations that represent farmers have failed so the government has to come in and summon the organisations that are buying the commodity so that they see how they can work out things on how best the tobacco matters can be solved," he said.
Phiri said the buying companies should also improve on the payment of the farmers.
Labels: BRIAN CHITUWO, EFAZ, LUCAS PHIRI, TOBACCO, UNIP
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Eastern Province to reap $40m in tobacco sales
Written by Christopher Miti in Chipata
EASTERN Province is expected to realise US $40 million from tobacco sales this year, the Eastern Fodya Association of Zambia (EFAZ) has projected. And EFAZ has said the tobacco market would be opened next Monday and not this week as earlier planned.
EFAZ vice-chairperson Chishala Chilufya said the province was expected to produce 20 million kilogrammes of tobacco from this season’s production, saying the association would therefore ensure that tobacco companies did not exploit farmers.
"If the buying companies want to exploit farmers, they should know that the production of tobacco always fluctuates...if this year the farmers are affected in the pricing, you expect low production next year so even the buying companies they are taking this so cautiously because we don't want what happened in the 2006/2007 farming season to repeat itself," Chilufya said.
He also defended the eight per cent deductions from farmers’ sales.
"In Malawi, 18 percent is deducted from a farmer’s sales as a floor deduction, in Zambia we are deducting 8.02 per cent which is almost half of the deduction in Malawi. Now there is a standard that is set in the tobacco industry, all the tobacco should be sold at the auction floor here in Zambia. We don’t have auction floors, we have sales floors now at the sales floor, we need to employ people in management labour and all other things so who is going to pay that? Definitely the deduction that farmers are complaining about is not so high if you compare it with what is deducted in other SADC countries like Zimbabwe, Tanzania and others,” Chilufya said.
And Chilufya said tobacco marketing would start next Monday to give room for an assessment of prices in Malawi.
"We cannot start buying the crop until first we hear the prices in Kanengo, Malawi. The only difference between Kanengo prices and Zambian prices is the processing fees that buying companies pay in Malawi. For example, if the crop in Malawi is costing about US $270, then here it can be 250 dollars," said Chilufya.
Labels: CHISHALA CHILUFYA, EASTERN PROVINCE, EFAZ, TOBACCO
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