LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
Zimbabwe exported 183.6m tonnes of tobacco worth US$819.7m in 2021, reflecting a 7% increase from US$760.5m earned in the previous year, latest figures have shown.
The country exports its semi-processed tobacco to destinations including the Far East , the European Union, Africa, Middle East, Europe and the Americas, among many others.
According to the latest Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) bulletin, prices for the golden leaf on the international market firmed to US$4.64 per kilogramme (kg) in the reviewed period from US$4.07 per kg in 2020.
The Far East, especially China, was the top destination for local tobacco.
“In 2021, the country grossed US$819.7m after exporting 183.6m kg of tobacco to five continents, with sales to the Far East earning US$485.2m followed by European Union whose sales raked in US$118.4 and Africa’s US$102.3m,” TIMB said.
Tobacco, which used to be the leading foreign currency earner for Zimbabwe, has gone down resulting in the golden leaf losing ground to gold, platinum and diaspora remittances.
It is estimated that over 95% of the tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe are under tobacco merchants’ contracts.
The merchants provide the farmers with inputs, since most farmers cannot raise their own capital required to undertake a tobacco farming business.
The prices of the inputs are sometimes overpriced, as the merchants take advantage of the desperate tobacco farmers.
Under such contract agreements, the tobacco merchants deduct their dues-the principal amount plus interests- at the auction floors, a situation which has seen some tobacco farmers taking home negative balances as some debts are carried forward.
This situation has affected production.
This comes at a time the government has failed to avail the promised US$60m revolving fund to the tobacco industry.
The funding was supposed to be disbursed in August last year.
But, that has not happened.
The development has left desperate tobacco farmers at the mercy of tobacco merchants.
