Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board reminded growers that the May 15 deadline for destroying all tobacco stalks has passed, urging immediate compliance to prevent the carry-over of pests and aphid-transmitted diseases into the 2026/27 season. Under Statutory Instrument 19 of 2008, farmers must completely uproot and destroy stalks to render plants incapable of regrowth, as part of an annual tobacco-free period designed to break pest and disease life cycles. Failure to comply attracts penalties of up to $100 per hectare for a first offence and $200 per hectare for repeat violations, alongside possible imprisonment. Authorities from the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization and Water Resources Development, and plant quarantine teams are conducting field inspections across tobacco-growing provinces as preparations begin for sowing seedbeds from June 1.
TIMB is also urging farmers to conduct soil testing before planting to optimize fertilizer use, improve leaf quality, and reduce input costs, advising growers to work with laboratories, fertilizer suppliers, and government research departments. Additional compliance dates include no planting before September 1, clearing curing facilities by October 31, and destroying seedbed plants by January 1 each year.
