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  • Zimbabwe farmers nearing shisha tobacco target

    Zimbabwe farmers nearing shisha tobacco target

     Cavendish Lloyd Zimbabwe’s chief executive officer, Dr. Rebecca Manford, welcomed the government’s extension of the seedbed destruction date to January 15, saying it would allow more farmers to continue transplanting as the nation approaches its shisha tobacco target.

     “For the 2024-25 season, the target is 514 hectares, and so far, 450 have been planted, making the set goal achievable,” Manford said. “Cavendish Lloyd has contracted 149 growers to produce a target yield of 775,000 kilograms, and with the ongoing support to farmers, we are optimistic of achieving this goal while ensuring a high-quality crop.”

    Now in its third year in production in Zimbabwe, Manford said the nation could become a significant player in the global shisha tobacco market with the crop driving economic growth and farmer empowerment. For this to happen, the farmers need the government to continue with its incentives which include expanding irrigation infrastructure, helping secure new export markets, and investing in research to develop high-yielding varieties, as well as subsidized inputs, loans, or grants. Cavendish Lloyd is currently the only registered and licensed shisha merchant by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).

    Statistics from TIMB show commercial shisha production rose from 110 hectares in 2022-23 to 407 hectares in 2023-24, totaling nearly 400,000 kilograms worth US$1.3 million.

    Prolonged dry spells and insufficient irrigation facilities made farmers hesitant to jump into full-scale production, however, recent rains have made a positive impact on the crop. Cavendish Lloyd has begun an awareness campaign to attract more growers, that includes technical training and engagement with stakeholders to promote sustainable production solutions.

  • Optimism High as Zimbabwe Tobacco Harvest Begins Despite Weather Challenges

    Optimism High as Zimbabwe Tobacco Harvest Begins Despite Weather Challenges

    The early harvesting of Zimbabwe’s tobacco crop is underway, with farmers optimistic about achieving the annual target of 300 million kilograms despite earlier setbacks. Edward Dune, president of the Tobacco Farmers Union Trust, reported that most irrigated farms have started reaping, although recent heatwaves have compromised leaf weight in some areas. Encouraged by the December rains, small-scale farmers are still planting, and Dune anticipates an early start to the marketing season if favorable weather continues. The influx of labor to tobacco farms, particularly in arid regions like Binga and Muzarabani, reflects the sector’s importance for local livelihoods.

    To support farmers, the government has extended the deadline for seedbed destruction to January 15, 2025, following a recommendation by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB). The extension, prompted by delayed rains and transplanting, allows growers to maximize their efforts amidst challenging conditions. With 84,661 hectares transplanted as of late December—exceeding last year’s figure—TIMB is optimistic about the industry’s growth and resilience. Efforts to ensure high-quality tobacco, proper handling, and competitive pricing remain priorities as TIMB prepares for a crop assessment exercise in January to evaluate the main dryland crop’s progress.

  • Zimbabwe to Phase Out Ethylene Dibromide

    Zimbabwe to Phase Out Ethylene Dibromide

    The Kutsaga Tobacco Research Center in Zimbabwe announced the phaseout of ethylene dibromide (EDB) effective Dec. 31.

    In a notice to the industry, Kutsaga said the measure was necessary to ensure that the country’s leaf tobacco meets international standards. More than 90 percent of Zimbabwe’s tobacco crop is exported.

    “No person shall treat any tobacco with a remedy which is not registered nor reap of offer for sale any tobacco treated with nonregistered remedy,” the notice read. “Furthermore, any tobacco so treated will be destroyed without compensation to the grower.”

    Zimbabwean tobacco farmers have used the agrochemical for soil fumigation for many years. According to Kutsaga, there are several alternative nematicides and soil formulations available for nematode control. The research station is also evaluating new active ingredients.

    EDB joins a growing list of banned fungicides, growth regulators, herbicides and insecticides in Zimbabwe. Other prohibited chemicals include benomyl, butralin and alachlor.

    The agrochemical’s discontinuation notice comes as the Zimbabwean tobacco sector anticipates record-breaking tobacco yields for the 2024–2025 growing season, thanks to heightened prospects of good rainfalls due to the La Nina weather phenomenon.

  • Zimbabwe: Growers Confident About Targets Despite Drought

    Zimbabwe: Growers Confident About Targets Despite Drought

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Tobacco growers in Zimbabwe are confident that they will achieve the targeted 300 million kg in the 2024–2025 cropping season despite the current dry spell, reports The Zimbabwe Mail.

    While part of the tobacco crop has started showing signs of moisture stress, farmer groups are still hopeful that the projected 2025 yield is achievable.

    “In some areas, the crop might be stressed, but we have hope because the Meteorological Services Department (MSD) is telling us that this was a bit expected because they had already indicated that the season will start in a normal to below-normal situation,” said Zimbabwe Farmers Union chief economist Prince Kuipa.

    In October, the MSD still expected La Nina to develop in the October-November-December period and play a key role in rainfall distribution across much of the country.

    A forecast issued in August this year showed that there were chances of normal to below-normal rains in the mentioned period, with normal to above-normal rainfall in the last half of the 2024–2025 season.

    As of Dec. 6, 2024, farmers had transplanted 66,438 ha compared to 61,380 ha during the same period last year, according to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board.

    Zimbabwe’s flue-cured tobacco exports are primarily destined for markets in the Far East, Middle East, Africa, the European Union, the Americas, Europe and Oceania.

    Under its Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, the government aims to significantly boost the value generated by Zimbabwe’s tobacco industry.

  • Zimbabwe Urged to Mitigate Farmers’ Losses

    Zimbabwe Urged to Mitigate Farmers’ Losses

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    The Tobacco Farmers Union Trust (TFUT) is calling for the localization of tobacco beneficiation to help mitigate losses caused by adverse weather conditions and soaring production costs in Zimbabwe’s tobacco sector.

    The appeal follows a 20 percent drop in production, with farmers yielding 231 million kg of tobacco during the 2023–2024 farming season, largely attributed to a drought induced by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

    Tobacco beneficiation refers to the process of adding value to raw tobacco, enhancing its quality, usability and application beyond its conventional uses. Through its Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, the Zimbabwean government aims to elevate the economic value of tobacco, ultimately benefiting both farmers and the broader economy by creating higher value products and generating jobs within the supply chain.

    “Tobacco margins continue to dwindle due to low yields associated with low rainfall patterns and skyrocketing input costs. High earnings often reported in the public domain are mainly benefiting some merchants, contractors and related value chain actors,” said Edward Dune, deputy president of the TFUT, in an interview with NewsDay Business. According to Dune, the localization of tobacco product beneficiation is a key objective of a forthcoming tobacco transformation plan.

  • Zimbabwe: Preparation for Growing Season on Track

    Zimbabwe: Preparation for Growing Season on Track

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    The Zimbabwean tobacco industry is increasingly confident it will achieve 300 million kg in the 2024–2025 season, reports The Herald.

    In a statement on Oct. 10, Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board Public Affairs Officer Chelesani Tsarwe said preparations for the upcoming growing season were progressing well, with most farmers expressing optimism about the cropping period.

    With consistent rainfall and moderate temperatures expected, farmers are better positioned to maximize their outputs than they were in the most recent growing season.  

    “We are optimistic about achieving the set target, thanks to the favorable weather forecast,” said Tsarwe.

    Despite the drought caused by El Nino, tobacco fared relatively well last year. The yield decreased by 20 percent from the previous season, reaching about 231 million kg in 2023.

    As of Oct. 4, 2024, Zimbabwe had exported 159.43 million kg of tobacco valued at $833.99 million compared to 143.23 million kg during the same period last year.

    “The average export price this year stands at $5.23, marking an increase from $4.99 recorded during the same period last year,” said Tsarwe.

    Last year, the country earned $1.3 billion from tobacco exports, up 30 percent over 2022.

    Eager to capture more value from the tobacco business, the government wants Zimbabwe to boost leaf output and move into value-added activities such as cigarette manufacturing.

  • Zimbabwe Firms Seek Help Entering Foreign Markets

    Zimbabwe Firms Seek Help Entering Foreign Markets

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Representatives of indigenous tobacco companies have asked the Zimbabwean government to help them secure export markets to widen their revenue base, reports The Herald.

    Company officials met separately with the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement chaired by Felix Maburutse on Sept. 20.

    Richard Machingura, head of operations and agronomy at Norton Leaf Tobacco, said indigenous-owned companies in the tobacco sector were struggling to access foreign markets and would benefit from assistance from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, which regulates the domestic industry.  

    “As tobacco companies, we are also facing some challenges in the markets,” he was quoted as saying. “You will find that most of our tobacco locally, we are just doing the intermediate trading. So, we have a challenge of markets where we are not really able to export our tobacco, and this is affecting the growth of our industry,” he said.

    Zimbabwe’s tobacco export earnings increased 138 percent year-on-year to reach $436 million in the first quarter of this year.

    Traditionally a leading exporter of flue-cured Virginia, the country aims to extract more revenue from the business by moving to higher value products, such as cigarettes.

    In 2021, the government adopted the tobacco value chain transformation plan, which seeks to build a $5 billion industry by 2025.

  • Zimbabwe Growers Start Planting Irrigated Tobacco

    Zimbabwe Growers Start Planting Irrigated Tobacco

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe started planting irrigated tobacco this week, with many expressing optimism about the upcoming growing season, reports The Herald.

    Zimbabwe law stipulates Sept. 1 as the earliest legislative date for transplanting tobacco from the seedbed to the field. The bulk of rain-fed tobacco crop will be planted from late October to early December.

    Most irrigated tobacco is grown by contracted growers who get their inputs on time. About 95 percent of the country’s crop is grown by contracted farmers.

    “We have high hopes this season following the weather forecast so farmers are in the fields,” said  Tobacco Farmers Union Trust President Victor Mariranyika.

     Zimbabwean growers earned $793.18 million from 231.47 million kg in tobacco sales during the most recent marketing season, compared with $896.38 million from 295.94 million kg the previous year.

    However, most farmers made more money than in the prior season, leaving them in a good position for the upcoming growing season.

  • 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.

  • Zimbabwean Cigarette Exports up by Half

    Zimbabwean Cigarette Exports up by Half

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwean cigarette exports rose from $71 million in 2022 to $106 million in 2023, reports The Herald

    A leading exporter of leaf tobacco, Zimbabwe has been keen to move up the value chain by producing products beyond raw tobacco.

    Zimbabwe is currently Africa’s sixth-largest tobacco exporter, behind countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco and Tunisia, according to Trade Statistics for International Business Development. Worldwide, it ranks 42nd among cigarette exporting nations.

    No African country was on the world’s list of 30 top cigarette exporters in 2023.

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