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Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Reporter
Savanna Tobacco’s earnings have increased 10 fold since the company’s upgrading from exporting raw tobacco to manufacturing tobacco cigarettes, a development which augurs well with Zim-Asset’s fourth cluster of value addition and beneficiation.Speaking during a tour of the factory by Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo in Harare yesterday, Savanna Tobacco executive chairman Mr Adam Molai said his company started enjoying the benefits 12 years ago.
“There is a big opportunity in the tobacco industry to make sure that there is further beneficiation of our tobacco,” he said. “I always say we started our Zim-Asset 12 years ago and we have been processing tobacco into cigarettes since 2002.
“Processing tobacco into cigarettes has been a value multiplier, seven to 10 times what we used to get when we ended up at the stage of exporting raw tobacco.”
Speaking after the tour, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services permanent secretary Mr George Charamba, hailed Savanna Tobacco for taking a lead in implementing Zim-Asset.
“Our Zim-Asset stands on four legs,” he said. “We have food security and nutrition, social services and poverty eradication, infrastructure and utilities and then value addition and beneficiation.
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“If you look at the value chain, we have moved from raw tobacco to cigarette manufacturing and we are being told that just that transformation is enough to enhance the value seven times over.
“That tells what this particular project does to the economy and if we could have every raw material get treated in that same way then I can assure you that we are miles and miles ahead towards realising our value as a country.
“The key theme today is beneficiation and beneficiation is what we have seen here.”
Mr Molai said the company was exporting 85 percent of its products and that it had secured a market share regionally and internationally.
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