Online Reporter
Online Writer
Crop insurance will be critical for sustaining the growth recorded in Zimbabwe’s tobacco industry, experts have said.
The 2025 marketing season closed with a record-breaking 352.7 million kilograms of tobacco delivered, surpassing the 300 million kg target and earning a staggering US$1.2 billion.
This marks an astounding 53 percent increase over the previous year’s output, driven by the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan and favourable weather conditions.
Despite the exceptional yields, threats such as climate change, hailstorms, barn fires and other natural disasters loom large.
These could devastate yields, destabilise earnings, and reverse the sector’s hard-won gains.
Financial services provider Quantum Multiple Agent emphasises the urgency of mitigating these risks through insurance.
“Insurance remains imperative to sustain these volumes (2025 yields),” says CEO Mr Thomas Guwu, noting the particular vulnerability of small-scale tobacco farmers.
Mr Guwu explains that Quantum Multiple Agent, a subsidiary of Black Eagle Holdings, provided field-to-floor insurance coverage to around 11,000 farmers last season through contracting companies and expects to expand this to 14,000 farmers this coming season.
Despite growing awareness of crop insurance, uptake remains low, particularly among smallholder farmers.
A recent study shows that only 39 percent of surveyed tobacco farmers participate in insurance schemes, leaving 61 percent uninsured.
This has been attributed to a number of factors including affordability and accessibility issues. Premiums can be steep relative to income, and providers seldom engage directly with rural farmers.
Physical claims processes are poorly understood.
Some farmers pay premiums but never make claims, often because they lack guidance or are unsure how to navigate the claims system.
Mr Guwu adds a practical suggestion: invest in curing infrastructure, such as better barns, to reduce risk from fires, a common hazard for small-scale producers.
