Tag: Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is likely to suffer a “significant” fall in flue-cured tobacco output this year in the wake of cyclone Idai, according to a story in The Chronicle quoting the CEO of the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB), Dr Andrew Matibiri.

The cyclone was said to have struck most parts of the provinces of Manicaland and Mashonaland East.

Matibiri said an assessment was underway to establish the damage that had been caused.

But it was known that a lot of farmers in Manicaland and parts of Mashonaland East had lost tobacco in the field, and that about 550 flue-cured barns had collapsed.

“As a result of the adverse effects of the calamity, there is going to be a significant decline of tobacco output this year,” Matibiri said. “We are yet to account how much we are likely to lose as a result of the disaster.”

The Chronicle story said that last year Zimbabwe had produced a record flue-cured tobacco crop of 253 million kg.

This year’s tobacco selling season had been opened by Vice President Kembo Mohadi on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a story in The Sunday Mail had it that tobacco sales were expected to pick up at tobacco auction floors from today after the Government scrapped, with immediate effect, a two percent Intermediated Money Transfer Tax on tobacco sales and confirmed that farmers would get half of their earnings in US dollars.

Sales had been slow since the opening of the floors with some farmers reportedly holding on to their tobacco because of dissatisfaction with the prices being offered.

Zimbabwe’s 2019 flue-cured tobacco marketing season is scheduled to start on March 20, according to a story by Kudakwashe Mhundwa for The Herald, quoting the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).

The start of the marketing season was delayed this year because planting was held up by the late onset of rain.

The TIMB said that the auction season would start on March 20, while contract tobacco sales would start on March 21.

Sales bookings started yesterday and deliveries will be accepted from March 18.

Meanwhile, another story in the Herald, this one by Nesia Mhaka and Ellen Chasokela, quoted the TIMB’s corporate communications manager Isheunesu Moyo as saying that three auction floors had been licensed for the 2019 sales season: the Tobacco Sales Floor, Boka Tobacco Auction Floors and Premier Tobacco Auction Floors.

He said all the licensed floors were ready.

The Zimbabwe Tobacco Association president Rodney Ambrose has dismissed reports that his organization has rejected the 30 percent foreign exchange retention threshold announced by the Central Bank governor John Mangudya during the presentation of his Monetary Policy Statement on Wednesday, according to a Pindula News story.

An earlier Pindula News report had indicated that the Association’s members had held a meeting on Wednesday night to map the way forward following the position taken by Mangudya.

The report further claimed that tobacco growers had threatened to withhold their crops.

Writing to Pindula News on Thursday, Ambrose said that at no time had it been indicated to any reporter that tobacco growers would withhold their crop if the 30 percent figure was not reviewed.

Also, he said, no meeting of tobacco growers had taken place yet to discuss the matter.

According an earlier story in The Standard, failure by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to make a commitment about how tobacco growers would be paid during the forthcoming marketing season had caused uncertainty in the industry.

Industry players had argued that the recent enthusiasm among farmers for growing tobacco was likely to be reduced if payments for tobacco were made in local currency or with a foreign-currency proportion that would not cover the costs of inputs priced in foreign currency.

Stakeholders in the tobacco industry were said to have met with senior officials at the RBZ to discuss the currency concerns ahead of the presentation of the central bank’s monetary policy statement (MPS), but with no immediate success.

At that time, the Federation for Farmers’ Union president Charles Chabikwa said his personal view was that tobacco farmers wanted more than 20 percent and, if possible, 100 percent payments in foreign currency.

Last year, tobacco growers were reportedly paid 50 percent in foreign currency.

Grower registrations for Zimbabwe’s 2019 flue-cured tobacco marketing season, at 169,772, are up by 46 percent on those of the previous season, 116,525, according to a story in The Herald citing figures from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board.

Of the registered growers, 41,021 were said to be ‘new’.

In 2018, flue-cured tobacco deliveries reached a record high of 252 million kg, but it is unlikely that this year will see an increase on that volume commensurate with the increase in registered growers.

In part this is because it is difficult to know how accurate registration figures are. For instance, a Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation story at the end of last year put the number of registered growers at 103,000, though, given when the story was published, it is possible that this was the number of registered growers who had delivered tobacco for sale.

More significantly, though, is the fact that the increase in registrations is likely to be largely due to administrative changes. That is, the increase in registrations has been influenced by the need for growers to obtain individual numbers so that they can benefit from the introduction of foreign currency incentives.

Changes to the way that payments are made to growers have made it difficult for them to share money after selling their crops because they are no longer paid cash. The money is now being deposited in bank accounts or paid through EcoCash.

Zimbabwe’s flue-cured tobacco marketing season will be delayed this year because the late arrival of rain held up planting, according to The Zimbabwe Daily quoting the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chief executive Dr. Andrew Matibiri.

The dry spell, which most parts of the country experienced, saw many farmers planting several weeks after they normally would, Matibiri said.

The normal tobacco planting time is between September 1 and December 31.

Last year, the marketing season began in mid-February.

Wonder Chabikwa, the Federation of Farmers’ Union president, said the crop situation had improved since rain started to fall in early January.

“We had half a month delay but today it is a good story,” Chabikwa said, before adding that farmers with early crops were already reaping and curing.

“If the situation remains as it is, we expect to have a very good season,” he said.

Meanwhile, Matibiri said that a $70 million tobacco scheme for small-scale farmers had been negatively affected by a lack of foreign currency to procure essential inputs.

“The program was delayed because of price increases,” he said. “We were targeting to distribute inputs to 51,000 farmers but we only managed 11,000.”

Zimbabwe is expecting flue-cured tobacco deliveries to exceed 250 million kg in 2019, according to a Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation story.
In 2018, flue-cured tobacco deliveries reached a record high of 252 million kg and, whereas the 2017-18 season saw 103,000 farmers register to grow tobacco, the current season has seen 166,000 growers registered.
The 61 percent increase in growers is not expected to be reflected in the level of production, however, because the increase in registrations is thought to be largely to do with administrative changes.
The increase in registrations has been influenced by the need for growers to obtain individual numbers so that they benefit from the introduction of foreign currency incentives.
Changes to the way that payments are made to growers have made it difficult for the them to share money after selling their crops because they are no longer paid cash. The money is now being deposited in bank accounts or paid through EcoCash.
Tobacco production has been on the increase during the past because of the way the market has been organized and the recent introduction of an input scheme by the government.