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Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
CLOSE to 100,000 tobacco farmers have so far registered to grow the crop in the 2014 cropping season compared to 82,833 recorded during the comparable period last year, the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, has said.
Statistics from the marketing board show that 99,174 growers have registered with 34,983 being A1 farmers, 11,135 A2 farmers while 45,134 were from the communal area sector.
Small-scale commercial farmers were 8,012.
Matabeleland region which is slowly venturing into tobacco growing has so far registered eight farmers compared to five during the same period last year.
“To date about 99,174 growers have registered for the 2014 season compared to about 82,833 who had registered by the same period last year,” said TIMB.
In Zimbabwe, tobacco is grown in seven regions that include Mashonaland West, Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Masvingo, Mashonaland East and the Midlands.
Due to the favourable producer price, a number of farmers have of late shifted their attention from growing crops such as cotton and maize to tobacco.
“Tobacco deliveries at both auction and contract have significantly improved recording daily average purchases of 2,5 million kilogrammes for the week ending March 28, 2014. Seasonal sales increased to 39,0 million kgs at an average price of $3,11 a kg,” said the marketing board.
In the corresponding period in 2013, cumulative sales were 31,7 million kgs averaging $3,70 per kg.
Since the adoption of a multicurrency system in February 2009, the tobacco sector has become one of the major economic mainstays improving liquidity supply in the economy through exports.
As of March 21, 2014, Zimbabwe had exported 15,3 million kgs worth $55,9 million.
Last year, the country earned more than $1,2 billion from tobacco exports.
Zimbabwe exports 98 percent of semi-finished tobacco products, while the remaining three percent is locally consumed.
The tobacco industry was last year beleaguered by side-marketing, reducing trust in the industry’s payments system and this negatively impacted on support for production as financiers were not confident of recovering debts through the central payments processing system.
This selling season TIMB has assured farmers and stakeholders that it would adopt zero tolerance to side marketing.
Online Reporter