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Tag: Kutsaga

  • With Record Already Set, Zimbabwe Eyes 400M Kg Milestone

    With Record Already Set, Zimbabwe Eyes 400M Kg Milestone

    Two weeks after topping 300 million kilograms of tobacco output for the first time, officials in Zimbabwe say this year’s crop should top 330 million kg, and that achieving 400 million kg in the future is within reach. According to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, on June 27, the harvest reached 319.2 million kg.

    Driving the surge is a sharp increase in “smallholder” participation, government-led reforms, and research-driven innovations. More than 127,000 farmers, 85% of them smallholders, are registered this season, which ensures access to inputs, training, and markets.

    Dr. Frank Magama, CEO of Kutsaga, Zimbabwe’s leading tobacco research institute, credited the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan introduced in 2021 for boosting productivity through better farming practices, climate-smart seed varieties, and sustainability initiatives.

    “Over 80% of our crop was produced under contract, ensuring inputs, technical support, and guaranteed markets,” Magama said. “While expansion has occurred, what is more exciting is the productivity increase per unit area. With improved post-harvest handling, energy-efficient barns, and better training, the numbers are speaking for themselves.”

    He also warned, however, of the risks from global oversupply and stressed the importance of environmental compliance to maintain competitiveness.

  • Zimbabwe Growers Warned Against Illegal Tobacco Seeds 

    Zimbabwe Growers Warned Against Illegal Tobacco Seeds 

    Researchers have warned against illegal tobacco seed imports, which could destroy Zimbabwe’s viable tobacco sector, which was recently earmarked to grow to a $5 billion industry. In a recent notice, Kutsaga Research said the institution had received numerous reports of illegal imports and sales of uncertified flue-cured tobacco seed varieties.

    “This includes some unprescribed old fertile lines and varieties and also landraces purportedly sold as Kutsaga hybrids,” Kutsaga officials said. “Unfortunately, growers who have cultivated these varieties have suffered huge economic losses due to their inherently low or poor agronomic attributes which result in crop and leaf that falls short of market standards for flue-cured tobacco.”

    An illegal variety is that which has not been prescribed and approved by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) on the recommendation of the Tobacco Research Board (TRB) for commercial production in Zimbabwe. Kutsaga Research said its unique tobacco attributes were safeguarded by proven and widely adapted locally bred genetics as well as tested and approved foreign varieties.

    Kutsaga said its rigorous industry-wide testing protocols (including agronomic, chemical, smoke quality) guarantee the sought-after quality of all tobacco varieties bred locally or imported in Zimbabwe.

    A farmer from Gutu, Masvingo, is counting his losses after unknowingly buying cigar wrapper type seed from unauthorized and unscrupulous sources, thinking it was flue cured, only to realize the mistake at reaping. The same unfortunate circumstances extended to farmers in Gokwe South and Karoi, who planted varieties that did not align with any recognized tobacco strains.

    Kutsaga Research has warned that growers and merchants will inadvertently suffer financial losses through yield penalties, increased cost in pests and disease control and low value leaf crop (or filler styles).

    “The net effect is that, at the household level, this compromises family income and food security, and at national level, it results in low foreign currency receipts and this goes against the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan and its tenets towards a $5 billion-dollar revenue from the crop,” the institution said.

  • Kutsaga Celebrates 75 Years, Looks to Expand in Zimbabwe

    Kutsaga Celebrates 75 Years, Looks to Expand in Zimbabwe

    As Kutsaga Research celebrated its 75th anniversary by hosting a tobacco seed and variety field day in Zimbabwe, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Permanent Secretary  Obert Jiri said the organization needs to continue its good work and spread to the southern part of the nation (regions four and five).

    “The tobacco value chain is currently positively impacting the lives of over 120,000 smallholder farmers; however, these are predominantly in the northern and middle parts of the country,” Jiri said. “Kutsaga should learn from the challenges and success of the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan that ends this year to spearhead the development of climate-smart drought adaptive varieties, research into eco-friendly tobacco curing fuels such as liquid petroleum gas, biogas, and solar energy.”

    The country is recovering from the devastating effect of last year’s El Nino-induced drought that cut production, but this year hopes to match 2023’s record-high 296 million kilograms produced.

    Kutsaga board chair Aaron Denenga said the company was committed to transforming into a self-sustaining agricultural research hub over the next 25 years, leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, 3D printing, genetic engineering, and quantum computing.

  • Zimbabwe Poised to Set New Records

    Zimbabwe Poised to Set New Records

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwe is poised to plant a record area of tobacco for the 2024–2025 growing season, reports The Herald.

    As of Aug. 1, growers had purchased more than 1 million grams of seed with potential to cover 201,036 hectares, according to the Kutsaga Tobacco Research Board. By the same time last year, they had bought only 831,000 grams with the capacity to plant 164,200 hectares.

    Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association chairman George Seremwe said the likelihood is high that the country will eclipse both the area record of 146,000 hectares, set in 2019, and the output record of 296 million kg, established in 2023.

    “This could be a record-breaking year encouraged by last season’s good prices and the absence of alternative crops paying better than the golden leaf,” he was quoted as saying.

    Tobacco Farmers Union Trust Vice President Edward Dune noted that seed sales were a reliable index for hectarage estimations. “Given the tobacco pricing matrix over the years, coupled with the positive effects of the forecast La Nina weather, farmers will have no choice but do anything possible to get good quality leaf that will fetch high prices,” he said.