Tag: Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board

Zimbabwe to Crack Down on Side Marketing

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) is cracking down on the side marketing of tobacco leaf during the 2022 selling season, according to The Sunday Mail.
“We have engaged relevant authorities to come up with a Statutory Instrument (SI) on side marketing,” said Saviour Muvirimi, TIMB head of inspectorate. “We also recruited informers in all farming areas in order to receive information on the presence of illegal buyers in communities.”
Police would be brought in to arrest those caught side marketing, according to Muvirimi. “TIMB will be making constant radar sweeps on frequency of sales on grower numbers with the view to identify grower numbers perpetuating side marketing. Respective individuals will be called to explain these sales, and if we are not convinced, we will block and suspend the grower numbers and refer such criminal elements to the Zimbabwe Republic Police for arrest.”
“Farmers who side market tobacco actually play around statistics by adjusting estimates,” he said, adding that the police department would be strict on addressing adjustment of estimates by farmers.
“TIMB will not hesitate to suspend sales and revoke licenses from contractors involved in side marketing. (We will) increase our surveillance patrols in farming communities in order to identify makorokoza’s (dealers) and errant licensed contractors engaging themselves in side marketing,” Muvirimi said.
March 15, 2022
Decentralized Marketing Continues in Zimbabwe

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
The decentralized auctioning of tobacco is now a permanent feature of Zimbabwe’s tobacco marketing system, reports The Herald, citing the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).
Previously, tobacco sales were conducted exclusively in the capital, Harare, causing farmers to incur transportation cost and forcing them to spend days away from their fields. The centralized auction system dates from the time that Zimbabwe’s tobacco industry was dominated by commercial plantations with a limited number of large-scale growers.
Following the land reform program of the early 2000s, Zimbabwean tobacco production is now characterized by small-scale production, with hundreds of thousands of participants each selling relatively small amounts of tobacco.
Decentralized sales started in 2021, with floors opening in Marondera, Rusape and Karoi Mashonaland West, among other locations.
TIMB CEO Meanwell Gudu said decentralization of sales would continue in 2022 because it brought convenience and reduced transport cost to farmers who sold their golden leaf at the nearest town.
“The decentralization is very positive because it is in line with government policy on devolution,” he said.
During the 2021-2022 summer cropping season, Zimbabwean farmers put just over 105,000 ha of land under tobacco, down from 106,494 ha last year.
According to the TIMB, more than 121,000 farmers had registered to grow tobacco during the 2021-2022 season by Dec. 31, a decrease from the 144,462 growers who had signed up during the same period the previous year.
February 4, 2022
Fewer Tobacco Growers in Zimbabwe

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
The number of tobacco growers in Zimbabwe has declined by nearly one fifth, reports The Herald, citing the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).
More than 120,000 people registered to grow tobacco for the current season, compared with 144,462 who registered during the same period last year.
The decline is attributed to the TIMB’s stricter grower vetting process and challenges facing the tobacco industry.
“Many farmers have tried and have fallen short, which is why we have less registered farmers,” said TIMB Public Affairs Officer Chelesani Moyo. “We place more pride in having fewer but legitimate tobacco growers whom we know will follow due diligence in all tobacco production processes and produce tobacco in quality ranges one to three by 2025.”
Tobacco Association Zimbabwe President George Seremwe blamed the decline in registrations on the fact that some farmers had incurred losses during the previous season.
“Too much cartels on one cake in the industry,” he said. “Surrogate contractors short changed farmers last season. We cannot have tobacco farmers not paid from last season up to now.”
Following complaints that some buyers were charging excessive premiums for inputs, manipulating prices and paying late, the TIMB has cracked down on contractors. Recently, the regulator also announced stiffer penalties for side marketing.
In related news, the government has given farmers who are still planting tobacco as a result of erratic rainfall at the start of the current farming season until Jan. 10 to destroy seedbeds.
Under normal circumstances, Zimbabwe requires tobacco farmers to destroy their seedbeds by Dec. 31 each year to prevent the spread of pests and diseases.
January 7, 2022
Stiffer Penalties for Side Marketing in Zimbabwe

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) of Zimbabwe plans to introduce stiffer penalties for “side marketing” of tobacco, reports Daily News. Side marketing is a form of contract default in which a farmer agrees to grow for one buyer but sells to another. When this happens, the contracting merchant not only loses his tobacco but also the agricultural inputs he provided to the farmer.
“TIMB has zero tolerance to side marketing,” said TIMB public relations officer Chelesani Moyo. “We are encouraging all stakeholders involved in the production of tobacco to stop the practice and make the tobacco farming business sustainable in Zimbabwe as we look ahead to the 2022 tobacco marketing season.”
At the same time, the TIMB has introduced measures to protect farmers from being shortchanged by contractors through underfunding and overcharging inputs.
The organization is currently analyzing the latest submissions from contractors who previously were not compliant.
“We have 37 licensed contractors, and nine out of the 37 are partially compliant because they have submitted partial regulatory information that we require,” said Moyo.
“We gave them up until Dec. 31, 2021, to ensure they are fully compliant. We are going to suspend those who are noncompliant, and farmers will be released and allowed to be contracted to other schemes.”
January 5, 2022
Zimbabwe Campaigning Against Rogue Buyers

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) in Zimbabwe has begun a campaign to expose middlemen in the illegal tobacco trade.
These middlemen are said to be traveling to farms where they are offering low prices for tobacco in return for instant payments. According to NewsDay, the middlemen have been working with officers at the tobacco auction floors to sell the leaf at huge margins.
Most of Zimbabwe’s tobacco is produced by small-scale communal farmers who are poorly funded. Ninety-five percent of the tobacco sold through “side marketing” would have been grown under contract with registered financiers.
“We are quite happy about this initiative by TIMB,” said Shadreck Makombe, president of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union. “As we do away with side marketing, we are bringing in business ethics. We are now conducting business on professional grounds, which is a good development. Even investors will start to have confidence when they want to invest their money. They know that it is secure.”
“This initiative is noble,” he said. “We are encouraging farmers not to be enticed by unscrupulous buyers. If they continuously get arrested and sanctioned in such a manner, side marketing can be limited and probably completely eliminated.”
“For the 2021 tobacco marketing season, the TIMB has embarked on an exercise to name and shame illegal buyers and sellers of tobacco,” said Chelesani Moyo, TIMB spokesperson. “The aim of this exercise is to discourage repeat offending and deter would-be illegal buyers and sellers. So far, 85 illegal buyers and sellers have been fined.”
May 11, 2021
Zimbabwe Marketing Board Seeks New CEO

The TIMB headquarters in Harare (Photo: Taco Tuinstra)
Andrew Matibiri will step down as CEO of Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) after his term ends in April, according to Newsday.
Andrew Matibiri
Matibiri has led the industry regulator for 15 years. Government regulations restrict a parastatal CEO’s term to 10 years, but the rule was not yet in effect when Matibiri took the helm.
The TIMB board has contracted Industrial Psychology Consultants (IPC) to search for the new CEO.
“Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt.) Ltd. has been contracted by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board to assist with the recruitment and selection of a suitable candidate for the position of chief executive officer,” IPC said in a vacancy advert published in late 2020.
“The CEO is accountable for leading the business through the initiation and implementation of strategies to unlock its full potential through the effective utilization of the material, financial and human resources, and supervision of all operational units.”
According to TIMB data, 180.8 million kg valued at $452.3 million was delivered to the country’s contract and auction floors during the 2020 season. During the same period last year, 240 million kg valued $479 million went under the hammer.
February 19, 2021
Zimbabwe: $585 million tobacco sold during 2015 season
Nearly 200 million kg of flue-cured tobacco worth $585 million was sold during the 2015 season, which ended on Sept. 9, according to a story in The Herald.
“Tobacco growers sold 198.7 million kg of flue-cured tobacco worth $586 million during the 2015 marketing season,” said Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) public relations manager Ishemunyoro Moyo. “Earnings declined by 14 percent from the 215.8 million kg worth $684 million that had been sold during a corresponding period last year.”
According to latest TIMB statistics, the seasonal average price was $2.95 per kg compared to $3.17 per kg last year.
September 15, 2015