Beatific Gumbwanda
CHIREDZI – Chiredzi sugarcane farmers are complaining over Tongaat Hullet Zimbabwe (THZ) Company’s delay to take in their sugarcane forcing them to spend three to five days in queue to deliver one load while Kilimanjaro out growers, whose cane is managed by THZ, are getting priority through express routes into both Triangle and Hippo Valley mills.
Hippo Valley Productive Sugarcane Farmers Association (HVPSFA) Chairperson, Patrick Muvingi said there has been a deliberate delay by the miller to take in farmer’s sugarcane in order to manage her cash flow while opening a green route for respected people as well as the Kilimanjaro farmers.
“It’s sad that we took almost 12 months growing sugarcane but we are now failing to recover our costs as most of our cane is rotting before being delivered to the miller.
“Burnt sugarcane is supposed be milled within 48hrs but we are now spending three to five days to deliver our cane.
“The Miller is even failing to abide by the quota system, where farmers are supposed to deliver certain bundles of cane per day and we now spending five days to deliver what we were supposed to deliver in a single day,” said Muvingi.
He lamented the conditions that delivery truck drivers endure in queues since there are no toilets where they wait.
“There are no toilets and we are forced to bring in food to our drivers who would be in queues for some days because the company gave us false promises,” said Muvingi.
Kenneth Chafanza one of the truck drivers said it was disheartening that the company was even locking the toilets they are supposed to be using.
”We were used to the quota system where farmers would deliver certain bundles per day. Now the five bundles that I am supposed to deliver on a single day is now being delivered after five days. We are being holed up here in harsh weather conditions and we even don’t have toilets to use while we are waiting to deliver the cane because they are locked,” said Chafanza.
The milling is supposed to close on the 8th of December but farmers are yet to finish delivering their cane to the mill.
THZ’s Head of Corporate and Industry Affair, Doctor Dahlia Garwe, said the challenge was emanating from farmers themselves as they were failing to implement the quota system and bringing in more that they require per day and that was causing queues.
“The mills are up and running as usual. We have a policy to communicate to farmers whenever there is a breakdown to alert and advise them not to bring cane to the mill until the issue has been resolved and this is done in real time.
“One of the biggest problems we are facing is that some farmers bring cane outside their allocated quota. By this we mean, farmers are allocated specific days on which they are supposed to deliver their cane to the mills. If they bring cane outside their specific time slots, we then have the long queues that you have seen. The farmers working outside the quota system are causing inconveniences to those that would have been properly booked.
“More cane than can be comfortably handled arrive at the mills causing the kind of difficulties you have observed.
“We urge all our farmers to religiously observe the quota system to maintain order in the delivery system and avoid inconvenience of an ordinate time in the queue awaiting delivery into the mills,” said Dr Garwe.
However, Mkwasine Estates which transport 80% of their cane by rail are also facing the same challenge as the train that is supposed to take only 8 hours offloading is now extending to 24 hours.
The sugar industry, is slowly crumbling following governments open door policy to imports aimed at thwarting price surges, which has significantly affected the sale of Hullets sugar in the domestic market, with tons still being stacked at Tongaat Huletts Zimbabwe which has significantly affected sugarcane delivery by out grower farmers as the company is slowly failing to pay them.
THZ and most out grower farmers signed a new contract, Cane Purchase Agreement (CPA) while a few went for the old one, the Milling Agreement where the former allows the company to pay for the cane delivered withing 10 working days at the cost of US$54.89 per ton while the later implies that the company will sell the sugar on behalf of the farmer and will be paid on monthly basis after deducting their milling charge.
The Milling Agreement allows Tongaat to pay farmers after they have sold the sugar while the CPA forces the company to pay the farmers on cane delivery, which has been difficult for the cash strapped company to pay as they are even failing to quickly rectify mill breakdowns and suppliers will be demanding cash up front.
The Zimbabwe Sugar Sales, which is a subsidiary of THZ and responsible for selling sugar internationally and domestically escalated sugar price a few months ago citing an increase in the cost of production, which forced the government to allow importation of basics including sugar which is now being sold at a lower cost that Huletts sugar which is produced locally thereby reducing supplies in the domestic market.
