The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has met with tobacco farmer organisations ahead of the opening of the 2020 marketing season to iron out the challenges experienced in 2019 and ensure a smooth marketing of the crop.<\/p>\n
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board is still consulting with stakeholders to come up with the opening date.<\/p>\n
The meeting came after farmers raised concerns over the challenge in accessing foreign currency component of their proceeds last year.<\/p>\n
The RBZ is expected to release a statement with the finer details of the payment modalities for the 2020 marketing season.<\/p>\n
RBZ governor, Dr John Mangudya this afternoon said the meeting with the farmers was a success and he will soon communicate the agreed position.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a positive meeting with the representatives of the tobacco industry including growers. We want to ensure that the tobacco producers are paid timeously.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also agreed on the format and substance of the communication with the tobacco industry, its coming out next week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe Tobacco Association chairman, Mr Rodney Ambrose confirmed the developments but could not give finer details of what was agreed on the meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndeed we had a positive meeting with the RBZ. We are tidying up the contents of the agreement reached. A statement will be released soon. We can only comment after the statement is released,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Tobacco farmers want the RBZ to simplify access to the US dollar component of their proceeds, including a portion to be withdrawn in cash.<\/p>\n
Last year farmers were paid half their earnings through their Zimbabwe dollar accounts with the remaining half being deposited into their Foreign Currency Accounts.<\/p>\n
However, most farmers faced difficulties in accessing their hard currency due to their failure to appreciate the processes involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has met with tobacco farmer organisations ahead of the opening of the 2020 marketing season to iron out the challenges experienced in 2019 and ensure a smooth marketing of the crop. The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board is still consulting with stakeholders to come up with the opening date. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[653,604],"class_list":{"0":"post-20077","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-economy","9":"tag-rbz","10":"tag-tobacco"},"yoast_head":"\n