Zimbabwe’s tobacco auction opened on Friday with high hopes that the total crop production will exceed last year’s 202 million kilograms, following the heavy rainfall in the country at the start of the season.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, John Mangudya, projected that the bumper crop could bring in about US$800 million to the country this year.
But, according to news reports out of Zimbabwe, most local farmers were struggling to manage the auction’s newly introduced electronic system. Farmers were widely quoted as saying they were not aware that a new system had been introduced and had received no operational training on the system, thus causing major delays on the sales.
