Zimbabwe's Tobacco Farming is Returning to Life
The tobacco industry is currently on the recovery line following a decade of decrease which has seen manufacture falling to a low of 48.8 million kg. in 2008 from more than 200 million kg. in 2000. The introduction of parallel currencies in 2009 provoked the recovery with approximately 60 million kg being manufactured that year and increasing to 123 million kg the next year.
According to statistics in 2011, cigarette sales closed with about 131 million kg at the auction and tobacco manufacture has been the main driver for 34% increase in Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector. The Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) has established the season’s objective of tobacco output at 150 million kg from 77,000 hectares.
“Traditionally tobacco planting ended on December 31 but this year it was retarded due to late rains. Currently the situation is under control, so we hope that by the end of dead line all objectives would be reached,” TIMB Chief Executive Officer Andrew Matibiri stated in an interview. The adherence to contract farming through which cigarette companies and buyers have offered training and inputs to small farmers has been a significant helper for the recovery.
This year Zimbabwe faced a serious decrease in burley production because of the falling demand of the product in favor of flue-cured tobacco. Burly is air-cured tobacco mainly used for cigarette manufacture; as about the so popular flue-cured tobacco it is also used for cigarette production but is mostly preferred due to its properties.
A great consideration during this year’s tobacco marketing season is a world oversupply situation, with a volume almost similar to the Zimbabwe national crop that remained unsold in big quantities. At the same time, tobacco growers are resorting to power utility ZESA Holdings to assure safe power for curing the crop in order to escape any losses.
“We observed that namely during the curing process the golden leaf lost its quality and weight. The curing process requires uniform temperatures as non-regular supply of electricity will negatively affect their weight and grade,” Zimbabwe Farmers Union director Paul Zachariah said in an interview. Zachariah added that ZESA have to carry into effect all provisions which guaranteed that tobacco growers were not affected. The power utility should take into account the prices that farmers would have paid up to the curing stage, he added.
“The price of irrigation is rather expensive, thus farmers try to produce tobacco of the highest quality that would be sold at a higher prices.” Zachariah also stated that the selling season should start earlier this year in order to adapt tobacco growers who are gathering the crop cultivated on irrigated land. Meanwhile, representatives from environment protection agency prompted tobacco farmers to create woodlots and use them while curing tobacco in order to evade deforestation.