Online Reporter
Rumbidzayi Zinyuke-Senior Reporter
ZIMBABWE is making significant progress in transforming the tobacco industry, with value addition and beneficiation increasing from 2 percent in 2021 to 11 percent at the moment.
This comes as the Government intensifies efforts to ensure farmers and the country derive greater value from the golden leaf.
Responding to questions at Tuesday’s post-Cabinet media briefing, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka said the increase was being driven by the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, which sought to raise value addition to 30 percent by 2030.
“When we started the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan in 2021, only 2 percent of our tobacco was being value-added,” he said.
“Currently, we are at 11 percent and the plan is to increase that to 30 percent so that we can have more cigarettes beyond cut rag and retain more of the value within the country.”
Dr Masuka said increased local processing would help the country capture a larger share of earnings from its tobacco industry while improving returns for growers.
Zimbabwe remains Africa’s largest tobacco producer and one of the world’s leading exporters of flue-cured tobacco.
The crop is a major foreign currency earner and supports hundreds of thousands of farmers and workers across the value chain.
Dr Masuka said the Government was implementing several measures to improve the viability and profitability of tobacco production following a season characterised by lower prices compared to last year.
The average tobacco price stands at US$2,51 per kilogramme, down from highs of US$4,30 per kilogramme recorded during the same period last year.
Dr Masuka attributed the decline to increased production following attractive prices in previous seasons, as well as quality challenges linked to excessive rainfall during the first half of the growing season.
“Only a leaf-by-leaf comparison shows that the upper leaf is fetching prices as good as last year. It is the middle portion of the plant, the lugs and primings, that are fetching lower prices.
“The lesson is that if we must increase production, we must focus on quality,” he said.
Dr Masuka noted that Government had analysed regional trends and observed similar price reductions in major tobacco-producing countries such as Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Brazil.
