TOBACCO farmers have hailed the introduction
of agro-cheques, which came into circulation on Tuesday.
The farmers said the introduction of the
cheques was a welcome relief and would go a long way in ensuring that they
access their proceeds as quickly as possible.
"The
Government should be commended for listening to our concerns and acting on
those concerns.
"While we may have had worried about the
onset of the selling season because of the delays in Government addressing our
concerns, it is now shaping up to be a good season," said Mrs Charity
Chikasi of Headlands.
Other farmers said the cheques would enable
them to quickly make purchases before returning to their homes.
"We were spending a lot of time and money
while waiting to get our money and when we did get the old cheques we were at
the mercy of shop owners but we are glad that this has been sorted out.
"We are happy that we can now get our
money before its value has been eroded," said Mr Richard Konde of Odzi.
A number of banks had by late Tuesday
requested for the cheques, which would be released to merchants who would then
pay them to farmers.
The cheques, which are as good as bearer
cheques and can be used as legal tender anywhere, come in $5 billion, $25
billion and $50 billion denominations. They expire in December.
The issue of withdrawal limits was one of the
few concerns that cigarettes and tobacco farmers had raised at the beginning of the selling season apart from
that of the exchange rate and support price.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe dealt with the
other issues when it liberalised the foreign exchange market, which resulted in
farmers having their proceeds being calculated at the interbank rate.
The introduction of the interbank rate
resulted in the new support price of $70 million per US$ earned that had been
proposed for this season falling away.
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