TIMB cracks down on side marketing
LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) has deployed its inspectorate team across all eight tobacco-growing provinces to clamp down on rampant side marketing, which is causing significant revenue losses, Business Times has learned.
Side marketing has plagued Zimbabwe’s multi-billion-dollar tobacco industry, threatening its sustainability. Contractors who finance farmers through input loans struggle to recover their funds due to illicit sales.
Farmers engaged in side marketing use other growers’ registration numbers to sell tobacco without repaying the companies that supplied their inputs, further deepening the crisis.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Muhacha Field Tour last Thursday, TIMB Acting CEO Emmanuel Matsvaire vowed a tough crackdown.
“We have strengthened our inspectorate department, deploying inspectors in all tobacco-growing areas. If any company buys outside the authorized selling system, its license will be immediately suspended. Unlicensed buyers will face legal consequences,” Matsvaire said.
“Side marketing is a criminal offense. Anyone caught buying tobacco without a license will be arrested.”
To curb the practice, TIMB has also introduced a new pricing model designed to ensure farmers walk away with earnings rather than losing everything to debt repayments.
In past seasons, contractors were accused of overpricing inputs while underpaying farmers for their produce, trapping them in a cycle of debt. This practice fueled side marketing as farmers sought better deals outside formal channels.
Matsvaire said TIMB’s new pricing matrix will stabilize tobacco prices and protect farmers from exploitation.
“The minimum price each day will be based on the previous day’s average, preventing sudden price drops. This will create firmer and more predictable pricing across the 100-day selling season,” he explained.
As part of its reforms, TIMB is rolling out a biometric grower management system to prevent fraud and unauthorized sales. The system links each grower’s number to their fingerprints and GPS coordinates of their farms.
“Farmers will be verified using biometric scanners when collecting inputs and selling their crops. This will prevent multiple contracts under different merchants and reduce default rates,” Matsvaire said.
The biometric system also ensures that indebted farmers cannot bypass obligations by selling tobacco under different identities.
Zimbabwe, Africa’s largest tobacco producer and the world’s fourth-largest, is highly dependent on the crop for foreign currency earnings. Last year, the country’s farmers produced over 240 million kilograms, generating more than US$1.4 billion in export revenue.
However, side marketing is costing the industry over US$57 million annually, prompting urgent intervention.
TIMB has already dispatched mobile teams nationwide to collect biometric data and tighten controls before the 2025 Tobacco Marketing Season, which officially opens on March 5.
The board anticipates a record-breaking 280 million kg harvest this season, aligning with Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, aimed at boosting revenues, local funding, and job creation.
Zimbabwe exports tobacco to more than 60 countries, with China, the UAE, and South Africa among its top buyers.
