RBZ meets tobacco farmers

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has met farmer organisations and stakeholders in the tobacco industry to iron out challenges experienced last year and ensure a smooth marketing season this year.

The meeting came after farmers raised concerns over the difficulties encountered in accessing the foreign currency component of their proceeds last year.

The RBZ is next week expected to release a statement announcing the details of the agreed payment modalities for the 2020 marketing season.

RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya yesterday said the meeting with farmers and stakeholders in the tobacco sector was a success.

“We had a very positive meeting with the representatives of the tobacco industry, including growers,” he said. “We want to ensure that the tobacco producers are paid timeously.

“We also agreed on the format and substance of the communication with the tobacco industry; it’s coming out next week.”

Zimbabwe Tobacco Association chairman, Mr Rodney Ambrose, confirmed the developments, but could not give finer details of what was agreed at the meeting.

“Indeed, we had a positive meeting with the RBZ, we are tidying up the contents of the agreement reached,” he said.

“A statement will be released soon. We can only comment after the statement is released.”

Tobacco farmers this year want the RBZ to simplify access to the US dollar component of their proceeds, including a portion to be withdrawn in cash.

Last year, farmers were paid half their earnings through their Zimbabwe dollar accounts with the balance being deposited into their foreign currency accounts.

Most farmers faced difficulties in accessing their hard currency due to their failure to appreciate the processes involved.

Farmers have complained of “significant loss of value” of tobacco proceeds during the 2019 tobacco marketing season, which left most growers exposed to reduced profitability and inability to retool for the 2020 season.

The farmers want full resolution of the outstanding US dollar nostro amounts from last season and the 2008 US dollar Tobacco Treasury Bills.

They want all their US dollar sales proceeds after US dollar loan repayments paid into growers’ nostro accounts by the contractor, not the RBZ, and to be paid through commercial banks at point of sale, on day of sale.

Farmers do not want limits when they liquidate their nostro accounts and are lobbying for a viable exchange rate when retooling, and they want to be able to convert a minimum of US$600 per sale from nostro funds to cash.

Last year, farmers delivered a record 259 million kg up from 253 million kg in 2018 despite challenges that affected production and marketing of the crop.

The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board is yet to announce the official opening date for the 2020 tobacco marketing season.

However, continuous assessment was abandoned in 2018 for Ordinary and Advanced Level after an outcry by players in the education sector over teething problems in its implementation.

Under the model, O and A-Level pupils were expected to be graded on the basis of combined marks for continuous assessment and final examinations in keeping with provisions of the updated education curriculum.

Pupils were supposed to be graded based on 40 percent theoretical examinations, 30 percent practical examinations and 30 percent continuous assessment. In an interview yesterday, Primary and Secondary Education Permanent Secretary Mrs Tumisang Thabela said the ministry was gathering views on how to implement continuous assessment starting next term.

“Our target is to have it reintroduced in May when we come back from the break. So, we are trying to push to get the final stakeholder input and finalise. We are targeting May and we don’t know whether we will be able to get there because sometimes these things are delayed beyond your planning,” said Mrs Thabela.

She said continuous assessment is in tandem with competence-based curriculum unlike what is happening at the moment where a child’s life can be affected by what they would have written in just a two-hour public test.

Mrs Thabela said examinations should not be viewed as a punishment for learners as some can panic during a once off test, affecting their future.

“We want to produce a child that can survive in any situation so we are producing skills as opposed to producing a child who can only cram. Before an exam you would find someone stuffing themselves with information. Regurgitate what the teacher has been saying. What was done over two years is dismissed over two hours. You are told that you are U or an A in two hours.

That is why even now we are debating about assessment,” she said.

She said teachers have a crucial role in the assessment process.

“The role of the teacher is to be a fair judge of the child’s progress. We have had continuous assessment in what used to be called practical subjects that children would have to do as part of assessment. In this case, we are opening it up to other learning areas rather than just limiting it to what we used to call practical subjects. The teacher really guides the child and they would be assessing, collecting those marks and banking them somewhere so that the child is assessed even if they have to move to another school. They will know that they will be having these points and they can add to those points,” she said. @ nqotshili