Online Reporter
The new record for tobacco sales this year, with more than 340 million kg of leaf sold so far and the more than 100 000 growers receiving at least US$1,13 billion, meaning that tens of thousands of families are seeing rising incomes, higher standards of living and better quality of life.
The farmers did much better than the expected harvest of 300 million kg, showing the sort of skills that have developed, plus the focussed support from the contractors who fund most of the crop and the continually improving research. The previous record was 296 million kg in 2023 and this year’s crop is already 15 percent higher with a few deliveries still to come.
But the improving yields could have been expected, since last year, with the worst drought for four decades, the farmers still managed 231 million kg a rather remarkable achievement in the circumstances and showing that the farmers and the industry that backs them were able to cope.
And if you can cope in a really bad year, then serious money will flow in a good year. So the reasonable rains this year, despite the late start to the season and what amounted to a short season as a result, were falling on fields being grown by top-end farmers who really knew what they were doing and were properly backed by the rest of the industry with both funding and research.
The record crop also shows up the higher potential value of crops grown by smallholders and medium commercial growers, farmers who can give their crops much greater attention than the owner of a large estate.
The largest tobacco crop grown before land reform was in 2020 and amounted to 236 million kg. Almost all of this came from around 2 000 plantation owners.
This year’s crop, with 85 percent of the crop coming from small holders, is already 44 percent higher and more than 100 million kg larger, another of those milestones that turn up so regularly. It was grown on roughly the same land, just better and more intensively, plus the new systems brought in the moderate number of communal land growers surviving in the right areas as a significant factor.
Over the main tobacco belt, stretching across a swathe of the three Mashonaland provinces and part of Manicaland, tobacco has been a major driver of rural development, pumping a lot of money into the rural economy.
The farmers, of course, were not really concerned about national records, jumps in exports or driving rural development.
They were grabbing the opportunities to grow tobacco to make a decent living from farming. When you speak to them they talk about the better housing they have built, the assets that they are acquiring, the better education they are giving their children and in general the better standard and living and quality of life they are enjoying.
Tobacco was always a somewhat independent industry, largely self run and even paying for its own research.
In the plantation days, funding came from the commercial banks with individual farmers getting bank loans after agricultural experts on the staff of the banks visited the farms.
After land reform the independence of the industry was maintained, in some very difficult circumstances, but some crucial decision made at that time meant that it would grow differently and better.
The Government set up the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board, drawing on expertise and representation across the industry, as a regulator and one that would not just set the rules, but make sure everyone from the smallest grower to the largest merchant would play fair.
The merchants, faced with banks had seen their old model collapse and were wringing their hands, recognised that they would have to be far more involved with the farmers producing their raw materials, the leaf and set up the contract system, but with the TIMB being an effective referee in what could have been a near disaster.
Independent research was maintained and as volumes grew was upgraded, since it is funded by the industry as a whole.
Covid-19 meant that sales had to be decentralised and that was so successful that when normal operations could resume the industry maintained the decentralisation that had seen a swathe of small towns across the tobacco belt suddenly start growing and becoming serious district business centres.
One weakness of the industry, that it concentrates on flue-cured Virginia tobaccos to the exclusion of almost everything else, is being addressed.
One group of farmers have, with contractor support, been growing the specialised tobacco variety needed for the water-filtered hookah pipes, suddenly returning to popularity.
Matabeleland South has seen a group of small-scale farmers growing the air-cured oriental tobaccos after being recruited by an enthusiast in the area who had experience of these tobaccos and was willing to share his knowledge and enthusiasm. This is important as Zimbabwe starts looking at converting a lot more of leaf production to cigarettes, or at least the finely cut blends that others need if they retain their own cigarette industries and monopolies.
Modern cigarettes might have a base of flue cured Virginia tobaccos, but many have flavour added with oriental tobaccos. Pipe tobaccos use fire curing, as well as some stronger tobaccos, so there is need to diversify the farm output.
At the same time there is need for investment to build up the value added to exports. For a start, exporting pure leaf needs to be replaced more and more with exports of tobacco already blended and prepared for cigarette production, and in time for having manufacture moved to Zimbabwe to make the cigarettes here.
Zimbabweans smoke less than 1 percent of the crop, so almost all tobacco has to be exported.
As we boost value addition with local production there will need to be very close cooperation between factories and farmers to make sure that all the required varieties are available.
The building up of such a large group of expert farmers opens other opportunities. The more than 100 000 active tobacco farmers have shown they know about the more complex types of farming, can follow advice and directions from research, and are honest, not engaging in side marketing.
There must be many other specialised crops where such farmers could form the core of new production groups.
