ZIMBABWE
Zimbabwe’s tobacco sales reached a record high of 237.1 million kilograms (m.kg) just as it was near the end of the selling season, signaling that controversial land reforms could be working and raising hopes that it could help ease the country’s severe dollar shortage. In 2017, tobacco accounted for a quarter of the country’s US$3.8 billion in total export earnings, second only to gold.
The boosted output, which plunged to its lowest in 2008, is attributed to growing demand from China, the world’s biggest smoking nation, and funding from private tobacco companies. Figures from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) showed that sales of the crop at local auctions had eclipsed the previous record of 236.9 m.kg in 2000. TIMB figures also showed that this year 111,000 farmers grew tobacco, up from 81,000 last year.
Dr. Andrew Matibiri, TIMB c.e.o., said more people are farming on smaller plots, which has boosted production despite a mid-season drought.
“The transformation that happened, in other words, the change of profile of the grower from the large-scale farmer producing an average of 40 hectares, to the small-scale farmer producing an average of one hectare, has been very beneficial to the industry. It has allowed more people, more households to benefit from the very lucrative crop and it has also put Zimbabwe tobacco crop in line with the rest of the world,” he said.