Harare — BUREAUCRATIC bungling in the payment system has caused a number of farmers to spend days camped at the tobacco auction floors, after selling their produce.

The delays are so far said to be Inexplicable, with farmers waiting for two days on the floors to get paid. A verification process is reported to be the major cause of the delays.

A number of tobacco growers failed to register before delivering their crop to the floors because they could not afford the US$10 required. They are paying the fee through a bureaucratic stop-order system.

Another problem is that there have been two groups of buyers in rotation at the three auction floors. They are alleged to arrive at some floors late, thus slowing down the start of the sales, which leads to the subsequent payment delays.

Zimbabwe Industry Tobacco Auction Centre public relations officer, Ms Kudzayi Hamadziripi confirmed the delays, saying the company was not paying farmers "after hours" for security reasons.

"Our bank is stretching the working hours to serve many farmers, but sometimes the payment process will be extended to the following day," she said. "We do not give farmers their vouchers to take them home because we want to prevent the origination of fake payment vouchers."

Mr Shingirayi Fusire of Macheke said he came to the floors on Wednesday last week but by Friday afternoon had still not received his money. "On Wednesday I renewed my grower's number and sold tobacco on Thursday, but up to now I have not received my cheque," he said.

He said he was buying food on credit from the vendors and had gone for days without a bath. Mrs Dorothy Tsvere of Mvurwi said she was worried about buying food being prepared in the open, because she had not brought.any

"The other problem is that we do not have toilets here and people are relieving themselves in the bush, exposing us to cholera." She said the situation was likely to improve as the buying teams were increased to three.

This season tobacco growers are entitled to 100 percent of their foreign currency from the sales. They are being paid US$1500 on spot while the rest is deposited in their foreign currency accounts.

This system was expected to improve conditions for the farmers, as they were no longer expected to spend days at the floor waiting for their cash. Last season tobacco growers spent days waiting to cash their cheques.

Some tobacco stakeholders have put in place measures to avert cholera, includes offering clean water, while some will be working with the Harare City Council throughout the marketing season to ensure vendors do not sell food at the floors.

Affordable food is being made available at the auction floors' canteens while another floor opened a clinic in case of a disease outbreak.