Tag: Zimbabwe

Farmers Told to Destroy Seedbeds or Risk Arrest

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Tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe must destroy seedbeds or risk fines or imprisonment of up to two years, reports The Sunday Mail.
The revised tobacco planting deadline passed on Jan. 15, following a pushback from Dec. 31.
Zimbabwe’s Plant Pests and Disease Act requires farmers to destroy all living tobacco plants on seedbeds by Dec. 31.
“The last date of destroying all tobacco plants in seedbeds was Jan. 15, 2024, and in this case, it passed, and farmers need to abide by that,” said Leonard Munamati, acting chief director of Agricultural Advisory and Rural Development Services.
“Pathogens, such as potato virus Y and bushy top virus, are a result of poor management and failure to comply with the regulation dates,” said Cleopas Chinheya, head of Kutsaga’s plant health services. “Clearing seedbeds breaks the life cycle of pests and pathogens and viral transmission from seedbeds or fields.”
“Complying to the regulated dates does not benefit the enforcers but the farmers,” said George Seremwe, president of the Tobacco Association of Zimbabwe. “If we let pests and disease carry over on our land, it is us who suffer.”
“We always urge our fellow farmers to be responsible in their operations,” said Seremwe.
January 31, 2024
Zimbabwe Farmers: Start 2024 Market Early

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Tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe have called for an early start to the 2024 marketing season to prevent potential storage losses, reports The Herald. The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) has indicated that it is still going through farmers’ representations and still licensing buyers.
Currently, 50 percent of the harvested irrigated tobacco is ready for marketing.
The TIMB is consulting stakeholders on suggested dates for opening the 2024 marketing season, according to Chelesani Tsarwe, TIMB public affairs officer. The board is expected to meet at the end of January to deliberate on licensing buyers.
“To ensure a good harvest, growers are encouraged to apply fertilizers correctly, undertake weed, disease, pest and sucker control,” said Tsarwe. “They must ensure they have good, functional and efficient curing facilities and safeguard proper handling of cured leaves to avoid losses.”
“More than 50 percent of the irrigated crop has been harvested and cured, so as farmers, we have suggested that floors be opened from Feb. 15 going onward,” said George Seremwe, Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association chairman. “Another reason for this consideration is inadequate storage facilities for some of our farmers as well as the need to raise cash from the sale of a few bales to meet labor payments.”
According to Seremwe, tobacco profitability is being compromised by high interest rates charged by loan sharks.
“Farmer representatives have indicated that an early start to the season would help them clear loans, reduce borrowing incidences, reduce risks of storing graded tobacco on farms and generate foreign currency early to positively stimulate the market,” said Rodney Ambrose, Zimbabwe Tobacco Association CEO. “Farmer viability remains a major concern as costs of production continue to increase against static floor prices.”
“We don’t want to open the market and stop due to inadequate volumes, so floors should open when there is a lot of tobacco ready for the market,” said Monica Chinamasa, Zimbabwe National Farmers Union president, who said the marketing season should open after Easter rather than earlier. “The price matrix is generated from the auction floors, so it’s critical to have large tobacco volumes in the auctions for effective price discovery.”
“The government shifted [the] tobacco seedbed destruction date to Jan. 15 to allow planting to continue, and this should also result in dates of opening of floors set for early or mid-April,” said Victor Mariranyika, Tobacco Farmers Union Trust president, who is also in favor of a late start to the season.
January 23, 2024
Kutsaga Blacklists EDB Soil Fumigation Agent
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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
Zimbabwe: Commercial Shisha Hectars Increase

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Zimbabwe’s shisha flue-cured tobacco commercial production increased 270 percent to 407 hectares this season, according to Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) statistics, reports The Herald.
Last year, 101,559 kg of shisha were marketed at an average of $3.15 per kilogram. It reached a high price of $5.40 per kilogram.
Currently, Cavendish Lloyd is the only TIMB registered and licensed shisha merchant.
“Consideration of the dreaded El Nino weather pattern led to farmers planting 407 hectares, a figure less than the planned over 500 this season,” said Tinashe Mukadzambo, Cavendish Lloyd CEO. “In our maiden commercial season last year, we did 110 hectares from 10 commercial growers.”
More commercial, semi-commercial and small-scale growers, in addition to the 10 commercial growers, were added this year, said Mukadzambo.
Tobacco Reporter profiled Cavendish Lloyd’s operations in its May 2022 print edition (see “Great Expectations”).
January 18, 2024
Zimbabwe Farmers Start Season on a High

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As of Jan. 5, 2024, tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe have narrowed the planting gap to within 5 percent of the 2023 hectarage, according to The Herald. The hectarage in 2023 was 27 percent shy of 2022 figures.
The area planted in for the 2023/2024 season has been smaller than the area for the previous season since Nov. 24, according to Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) statistics.
Farmers planted a total of 103,652 ha under both dryland and irrigated tobacco across the country.
This season, 112,916 growers have registered compared to 147,748 in the same period last year. Of registered growers, 93 percent are contracted, according to the TIMB.
Zimbabwe’s government has extended the date for destruction of tobacco seedbeds to Jan. 15. This season’s planted area could exceed last year’s, according to some farmers.
“As farmers, we are happy with the current weather pattern and believe that we can slightly exceed last year’s hectarage,” said George Seremwe, chairman of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association, referring to the current wet weather pattern. “Tobacco requires water and a lot of heat units, which is good in terms of the quality of the crop.”
“The combined influence of extended planting dates and wet weather conditions from around the Christmas period will likely result in this season’s planted area coming close to or surpassing last year’s,” said Victor Mariranyika, president of the Tobacco Farmers Union Trust. “We thank the government for moving planting dates in response to climate change with the crop generally looking good after the rains, which fell after Christmas.”
In 2023, Zimbabwe saw record crop yield, and the sector expects another positive season this year. The country’s target for this year is 148,500 ha.
“We are looking at two fundamentals: the hectarage and the potential yield, and with what is on the ground, we are likely to have a good season,” said Emmanuel Matsvaire, acting TIMB CEO. “Information that we have received so far shows that 136,000 ha have been planted, but we still have some districts that have not submitted the figures.”
January 12, 2024
Rain Sparks Planting Frenzy in Zimbabwe

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Recent rains have raised hopes that farmers will be able to meet or surpass Zimbabwe’s target of planting148,500 hectares of tobacco for the 2023-2024 growing season, reports The Herald.
Statistics released by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) revealed that by Dec. 15, growers had planted 55,170 hectares of tobacco, 27 percent less than in the previous year. Zimbabwe has been suffered from drought at the start of the growing season.
The return of rains has sparked a planting frenzy, however, making it likely that the crop’s hectarages will increase significantly over the coming days.
Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association Chairman George Seremwe expressed confidence that the drop in planted area will be reversed.
Zimbabwe Tobacco Association CEO Rodney Ambrose said the recent rains have also boosted the already established crops that were starting to show signs of moisture stress.
January 5, 2024
Research Board Warns for Crop Disease

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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
Zimbabwe Growers Cheer Extension of Planting Deadline

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Tobacco growers in Zimbabwe have welcomed a government decision to extend the tobacco planting deadline, reports The Herald.
Originally, farmers were required to clear their seedbeds by Dec. 31. However, due to the late start of the 2023-2024 season, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, has postponed the deadline to Jan. 15.
Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association Chairman George Seremwe said farmers appreciated the government’s gesture, adding that it would lead to an increase in the planted area.
“The rainfall season started just before Christmas for most tobacco areas and the dryland farmers are busy planting, hoping to have finished planting by Jan. 15,” he was quoted as saying. “As the season seems to have shifted due to the dry spell, the combination of current rains and the deadline extension will enable the hectarage to increase, thereby allowing the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board [TIMB] to adjust its projections on hectarage and yields upwards.”
“This is a noble idea that will allow those seedlings in seedbeds that had survived the recent moisture stress from lack of water and excessive heat to resurrect after the current rains,” said Tobacco Farmers Union Trust President Victor Mariranyika.
While granting the extension, Minister of Agriculture Anxious Masuka warned that growers who fail to adhere to the deadline would risk stiff penalties and even prison sentences.
As of Dec. 15, the planted areas was down 27 percent, from 75,4111 ha in 2022 to 55,170 hectares in 2023, according to the TIMB.
December 28, 2023
Zimbabwean Leaf Exports Top $1 Billion

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Zimbabwe earned $1.2 billion from tobacco exports in 2023, compared to $975 million this previous year, reports The Herald.
As of Dec. 15, the country had exported 233.9 million kg of the golden leaf, according to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).
The average price for the shipments was $5.23 per kg, up from $4.96 a kg during the same period in 2022.
In the comparable 2022 period, Zimbabwe shipped 196.57 million kg.
The bulk of Zimbabwean tobacco is exported to countries in the Far East. In 2023, the nation shipped 109.45 million kg to that region, raking in $779.2 million at an average price of $7.12 per kg.
Africa is the second largest consumer of flue-cured tobacco from Zimbabwe, having consumed 40.84 million kg valued at $141.6 million in 2023.
Despite the late onset of the rains and the decreased number of registered growers, stakeholders are optimistic about achieving the targeted 300 million kg crop in 2024.
As of Dec. 15, 2023, the number of registered growers was 112,447, compared to 144,446 in the same period last year.
Ninety-four percent of the registered growers are contracted.
December 22, 2023
Zimbabwe Growers Plant 55,170 Hectares

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Tobacco growers have planted 55,170 hectares of leaf for the 2023–2024 season in Zimbabwe, reports The Sunday Mail.
Last year, the country’s tobacco farmers planted 57,411 ha, according to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB), which regulated the trade in Zimbabwe.
This year’s figure includes 19,202 hectares of irrigated tobacco and 35,968 of dryland tobacco.
Meanwhile, 112,447 growers have registered with the TIMB.
Zimbabwe’s tobacco growers delivered nearly 300 million kg this year, which are currently being processed, sorted and exported. As of November, the country had exported more than 210 million kg of tobacco worth more than $1 billion.
As part of the government’s Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, Zimbabwe aims to build a $5 billion tobacco industry by 2025.
December 22, 2023