Tobacco Research Board - Tobacco Reporter

Kutsaga Releases Climate Resilient Seeds

Zimbabwe’s Kutsaga Tobacco Research Board (TRB) has unveiled new tobacco hybrids designed to thrive in challenging climatic conditions.

According to TRB CEO Frank Magama, the varieties grow rapidly, allowing them to withstand the impacts of drought and heat, which have become increasingly prevalent in the country due to the impact of climate change. Furthermore, the new varieties are resistant to multiple tobacco diseases.

The TRB says they can yield between 2,500 and 3,000 kilograms per hectare even in the harshest environments.

The new varieties are currently undergoing a limited-release program, targeting farmers in the arid regions of Masvingo, Midlands and Matabeleland South.

“This program ensured that all Kutsaga varieties are extensively tested for their drought tolerance,” Magama told The Herald.

More than 85 percent of Zimbabwean tobacco growers are smallholders, whose lack of irrigation facilities leaves their operations dependent solely on rainfall.

This year’s El Nino weather phenomenon caused prolonged drought in Zimbabwe, resulting in low yields, poor-quality tobacco and reduced revenue.

As the 2024 marketing season draws to a close, national crop output stands at 226 million kg, down from last year’s record-breaking harvest of 298 million kg.

July 25, 2024

Zimbabwe Seed Producer Shuts Down

Zimbabwe Tobacco Seed Association (ZTSA) has stopped production and is closing down after failing to secure parent seed, reports NewsDay. The company expressed fears that this will affect the billon-dollar tobacco leaf sector.

“We have not had the chance to get parent seed for the past six years, and it pushed us out of business,” said Mildred Kamusasa, ZTSA executive committee chairperson. “We had over 400 workers as part of the seed production company. Sadly, the company is not relocating, but we are shutting down operations and liquidating.

“There is no hope that we can come back into play any time soon.”

“While the closure of ZTSA is disheartening, rest assured that the supply of tobacco seed will continue without any compromise,” said Tatenda Mugabe, public relations and communications officer at Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Research Board.

April 8, 2024

Kutsaga Blacklists EDB Soil Fumigation Agent

The Kutsaga Tobacco Research Board announced a ban on the use of ethylene dibromide (EDB) in Zimbabwe this year, citing health and environmental concerns, reports The Sunday Mail.

“Ethylene dibromide has been a widely used method for soil fumigation on tobacco for many years,” said Kutsaga pesticide expert Chiyedza Nyamakura. “However, it is important to note that due to its highly hazardous properties and potential negative impact on human and environmental health, EDB will be phased out for use on tobacco by the end of 2024.”

Nyamakura said that farmers have access to several alternative nematicides and soil fumigation formulations. “New active ingredients are currently being evaluated so as to give growers a wide variety to select from,” she added.

January 21, 2024

Research Board Warns for Crop Disease

Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Research Board (TRB) has advised tobacco growers to watch for crop diseases in the wake of heavy rains, reports The Herald.

When not properly managed, pests and diseases can drastically reduce yield and quality of tobacco. There are three key foliar diseases that are of major concern—angular leaf spot, frogeye leaf spot and Alternaria leaf spot. However, the TRB has established that a group of fungicides collectively known as strobilurins can be effective against both frogeye and Alternaria leaf spot diseases.

In addition to the risk of crop disease, the heavy rains are presenting extra challenges, such as weed control and ridge maintenance.

“One of the major challenges is leaching, a condition where elements such as nitrogen and potassium are washed beyond the root zone, making it impossible for the crop to access them, and deficiency symptoms may develop,” said George Seremwe, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association.

“Incessant rainfall patterns tend to lead to excessive soil moisture content, which promotes unlimited nutrient loss due to leaching, resulting in poor quality leaf,” said Victor Mariranyika, president of the Tobacco Farmers Union Trust. “It also disturbs other farm operations, thereby compromising profitability, with human resources and machinery possibly failing to cope.”

Over 19,000 hectares have been put under irrigated tobacco crop in Zimbabwe for the 2023–2024 summer crop season, according to The Sunday Mail. This represents a 22 percent decline from the previous year.

Statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) showed that 19,202 ha have been planted compared to the previous year’s 18,901 ha.

Currently, 112,906 growers have registered with the TIMB.

Tobacco is Zimbabwe’s largest agricultural export and second-largest single commodity export after gold.

January 4, 2024

Seed Sales Hint at Record Hectarage

Zimbabwean seed sales suggest a record tobacco hectarage in the 2023-2024 growing season, reports The Herald.

Statistics released by the Tobacco Research Board (TRB) reveal that, by August 8, farmers had procured 847.21 kg of tobacco seed with potential to cover 169,442 ha.

The largest tobacco hectarage to date was recorded in 2019 when growers planted 146,000 ha. The final crop, livestock and fisheries assessment report shows that last year 131,656 ha were put under tobacco.

Zimbabwean tobacco growers had sold 294 million kg of tobacco worth $891 million by day 100 of the ongoing 2023 marketing season.

This is a 44 percent increase in volume and 43 percent rise in value compared to the same period last year.

The average yield this season has risen to over 2 tons per hectare from 1.7 tons per hectare the previous season.

As part of its Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, Zimbabwe seeks to create a $5 billion tobacco industry by 2025 through localization of tobacco funding, increased production and productivity, value addition and beneficiation.

August 10, 2023

The Scientific Approach

Boosting Production Through Innovation

By Taco Tuinstra

The tobacco transformation plan aims to boost production without expanding the farmer base or laying claim to significantly more farmland (see interview with Minister of Agriculture Anxious Masuka). To help the government achieve its objectives, the Tobacco Research Board (Kutsaga) (TRB) is developing improved seed varieties, innovating to reduce post-harvest losses and creating education programs for tobacco growers.

According to TRB CEO Frank Magama, the key to sustainable growth is improving yields. Just recently, the TRB released four new flue-cured tobacco varieties developed for marginal growing areas in the south of Zimbabwe, which is dryer than the rest of the country. With traditional tobacco varieties, farmers in that region have been getting yields of about 1,100 per hectare. Magama hopes the new varieties will boost that number to 2,500 kg per hectare.

The varieties have been issued on a so-called limited-release protocol. “We allow 20 farmers to grow one hectare each so we can get more data and learn whether the new varieties are suitable,” says Magama. If, in consultation with the growers, the breeders are satisfied with the results, they will move to the next stage of the trials. In the second season of evaluation, the TRB will distribute seed for these varieties among a larger number of farmers for further testing. In addition, tobacco merchants will test-smoke cigarettes manufactured with tobacco from the new varieties to make sure they deliver the desired flavor. Altogether it will take between three years and four years from the start of the trials until the new varieties will be available to all growers in the targeted areas.

Reducing Losses

The TRB is also looking at reducing post-harvest losses. According to Magama, smallholder farmers may lose up to 50 percent of their crops due to inadequate handling. “If you look in the field, it may be a 3 ton crop,” he says. “But what goes to auction is perhaps 1.5 tons.”

The problem starts before the tobacco even leaves the farm. After curing, the leaf is very brittle, and to prevent breakage while moving the leaf from the curing barn to the shed, it must be conditioned. Ideally, this is done with a misting system, but this requires piping and electricity, which are often unavailable in the rural areas. So small-scale farmers may just use boiling water, which doesn’t generate the proper mist. As a result, a needlessly high share of good tobacco ends up as scrap that may sell for perhaps $0.10 per kg—or, more likely, end up as compost.

“It’s an issue of infrastructure,” says Magama. In partnership with a tobacco equipment manufacturing company, the TRB evaluated a portable firewood steam boiler for tobacco conditioning. This portable unit can be moved from barn to barn and also to grading facilities with ease and without a need for extension pipes. “If we solve that aspects of losses, we can significantly boost yields.”

We hope that eventually hemp can be grown on tobacco farms, either as a rotation crop with tobacco or eventually as an alternative to tobacco.

Frank Magama, CEO, Tobacco Research Board

At the same time, Kutsaga is working to reduce the amount of wood required for tobacco curing and other farm activities. The shift from commercial growing (which uses mostly coal as a curing fuel) to smallholder production has put considerable pressure on Zimbabwe’s forest cover. Innovations such as the rocket barn and Kutsaga’s counter-current barn use up to 50 percent less wood than conventional barns. And while the rocket barn is comparatively expensive, Magama believes farmers can significantly reduce its cost through materials substitution, by making their own bricks, for example.

The TRB has also been distributing eucalyptus tree seedlings to farmers but with mixed success. Tobacco growers are not always keen to plant trees on land that could be used for other crops. So the board is also working with schools in rural areas. “We donate seedlings and presented it as an educational and commercial opportunity,” says Magama. Tending to the trees is light work—you will need to protect them against termites, for example—and within three years to four years, the schools will have timber that they can sell to tobacco farmers and other users. “The initiative with the schools has gotten a lot more traction than working directly with tobacco growers,” says Magama.

Model Farm

Another way to improve tobacco yields is through education and training. This is extensively done through what Kutsaga terms tobacco improved productivity sites (TIPS), where training is done on farms in selected tobacco-growing areas. Farmers from the area are provided with all the necessary inputs and then trained year-round on these sites. The TRB is currently also building a 6 ha model farm at its Kutsaga Station to teach tobacco growers good agricultural practices: How do you properly rotate tobacco and food crops, and what else can you cultivate on your farm? “We are also doing this to prepare growers for a future with less smoking,” says Magama. Upon completion of construction of the facility, the TRB will select a grower to live and work full time on the farm with his family. Supported by the best agronomic advice, this farmer will then become a visual model for other growers to emulate.

Meanwhile, the TRB itself is adjusting to a changing market with declining cigarette consumption. Following the legalization of industrial hemp and cannabis for medicinal use in Zimbabwe in 2019, the board has set up three stations for hemp research. According to Magama, it would be relatively easy for tobacco farmers to get into hemp. “We hope that eventually hemp can be grown on tobacco farms, either as a rotation crop with tobacco or eventually as an alternative to tobacco,” he says. Kutsaga is also investigating crops such as stevia and chia.

Looking further ahead, Magama would like the TRB to venture into biopharming, using tobacco to develop compounds of value, such as pharmaceuticals or vaccines. He hopes some of the board’s current innovations will help generate money to fund the modern labs required for such endeavors. For the time being, it remains a dream only. If it becomes reality, however, it will provide an unrivaled boost to Zimbabwe’s effort to extract more value from its tobacco business.

Taco Tuinstra is Tobacco Reporter’s editorial director. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, he coordinates the work of staff writers and contributors. On his watch, Tobacco Reporter has won several awards for editorial excellence. Since joining the magazine in 1997, Taco has visited more than 75 countries to meet industry representatives in their markets and to report tobacco news firsthand.

May 1, 2023

Zimbabwe: Record Tobacco Area Expected

Industry representatives expect Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers to plant a record hectarage of leaf this season as sales of seed soar, reports The Herald.

As of Sept. 2, 2022, at least 925 kg of tobacco seed with the capacity to cover 184,999 ha was sold, according to the Tobacco Research Board. This would be the largest hectarage ever planted if all the seed sold is sown.

Planting of irrigated tobacco began on Sept. 1, 2022, according to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB). The TIMB stated that it has designed a monitoring system for contractors’ compliance to help relieve farmers’ anxiety over contract farming agreements.

“As the 2022/2023 season commences, TIMB is working toward standardizing the inputs package offered by contractors to growers,” said Chelesani Moyo, TIMB public relations officer.

“We have come up with a compliance administration framework that every registered contractor should meet. This stipulates the minimum inputs package for both small[-scale] and large-scale growers. The conditions also include the last date for inputs distribution for those who are contracted.”

“The pricing of tobacco being determined at the auction floors through a transparent system is justified as the grower is protected from any unfair pricing by the contractor who stands guided by the previous day grade price matrix obtained from the auction floors,” Moyo added.

September 7, 2022

Dahlia Garwe to Leave Tobacco Research Board

After eight years at the helm of Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Research Board (TRB), Dahlia Garwe is leaving the institution to pursue other interests.

Garwe joined the TRB in 1991 as a research officer in the analytical chemistry department. In 2003, she became a divisional coordinator, and in 2009, she was named assistant general manager of research and extension. In 2012, Garwe was appointed acting general manager, and in 2014, she became the TRB’s first female CEO.

In an interview with The Herald, Garwe reflected on the TRB’s achievements during her tenure. Despite the challenging economic environment, the institution continued to record surpluses thanks to several income-generating initiatives, such as the seed potato project.

During Garwe’s time at TRB, the institute’s scientists contributed significantly to international tobacco conferences and congresses, with quite a few of them assuming leadership roles in various international tobacco research bodies.

The TRB also released several new tobacco varieties, eight of which were released, including to other countries, such as Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Confronted with declining tobacco consumption, the TRB has also been exploring alternative crops, such as industrial hemp, in Zimbabwe.

Asked why she was leaving the TRB, Garwe cited Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson, a self-help book that encourages readers to adapt to change. According to Zimbabwe’s Public Corporate Governance Act, Garwe must retire within the next two years as her 10 years in office will be up.

“In the interim, I received a really exciting offer from a local agricultural player, which will allow me further growth,” Garwe told The Herald. “I decided to take it, and I am relishing the new challenge. I will miss TRB, but I am ready to move on.”

February 15, 2022

Tag: Tobacco Research Board

Boosting Production Through Innovation

Reducing Losses

Model Farm