Officials in Zimbabwe have barred cash payments for tobacco deliveries forcing tobacco farmers to utilise mobile banking services in a bid to drum up financial inclusion.

Zimbabwe's central bank is encouraging the adoption of these services and mobile money by farmers ahead of the lucrative tobacco auctioning season.

The season begins on 30 March and the central bank alongside the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board confirmed this week that tobacco farmers will no-longer be paid in cash.

Instead, they have been requested to open bank accounts which will then facilitate other transactions such as plastic money through ATM usage and mobile banking among other emerging and ICT enabled platforms.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said payment of proceeds from the sale of tobacco through banking accounts will help the farmers have increased "convenience of transacting through other payment platforms such as mobile banking and point of sale (POS)".

Payments for tobacco deliveries for this season through bank accounts will also ease "access to cash through the bank ATMs".

The central bank has eased the account opening process, with the farmers only required to provide their tobacco growers credentials and national identity numbers.

Zimbabwe has requested that banks submit financial inclusion strategies as the country ramps up efforts to deal with a liquidity crisis that has resulted in some banks running out of cash and enforcing a limit on cash withdrawals.

A government minister recently said the State's acquisition of a controlling interest in Telecel Zimbabwe was strategic for the National Social Security Authority as it enables the organisation to pay out pensioners using mobile money.

Telecel runs the Telecash mobile money platform.