eBusiness Weekly
Elita Chikwati
HARARE – The curtain on the 2018 tobacco marketing season is expected to down end of July as deliveries to the auction floors have started declining.
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board has confirmed that after consultations with stakeholders the last day for the sales will be July 27.
TIMB corporate communications manager Isheunesu Moyo yesterday said the dates for the mop up sales will announced in due course.
“All stakeholders are advised that the 20-18 auction floors will remain open until Friday July 27, 2018.Delievreis to the selling points will be accepted until Thursday July 276 2018. Dates for the clean-up sales will be announced in due course,” he said.
Mr Moyo said deliveries to the floors had declined to an average of one million kilogrammes per day as compared to six million kilogrammes during the peak period.
The 2018 tobacco output is expected to reach 235 million kilogrammes while other stakeholders holders in the industry feel that this year’s output will be the highest in the history of tobacco in country.
The highest volumes of tobacco produced in the history of the country was in 2000 when farmers produced 236 million kilogrammes.
According to the TIMB statistics, farmers have so far sold 230, 4 million kilogrammes worth $672 million, an increase of 34 percent from the 172 million kilogrammes that were sold during the same period last year.
Tobacco Industry Development Support Institute for Southern Africa Jeffrey Takawira yesterday said this year’s tobacco crop was good in both quality and quantity.
“ The land reform programme despite it is other flawed characteristics brought in opportunities for then marginalised farmers that could not access suitable land to grow the gold leaf. There has been marked improvement in this year’s crop largely because 85 percent of the tobacco crop is now under contract farming.
“We have also noticed increased plantings by hitherto non tobacco growers and this is a sign of confidence exhibited by most the farmers. We have also noted that Government through the TIMB and Agribank have a popular input and infrastructural support scheme and their intervention has been timely as the inputs are distributed well on time to avoid hurried preparations,” he said.
The issue of funding is also another factor that has led to the increase in volumes. There is funding for the tobacco sector and the introduction of the foreign currency incentive and this also motivated farmers. Government has also come up with Tobacco Finance Facility for small holder farmers,” he said.
Government during the start of the 2018 marketing season indicated that tobacco will now be covered under the Command Agriculture Programme.
Government has extended the Tobacco Contract Model to the same category, Special Maize Production programme commonly known as Command Agriculture, which recently has been extended to cover wheat, soya beans, livestock, fisheries and wildlife production.
Tobacco has earned a strategic position in the Zimbabwean economy because of its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product and foreign currency earnings.
In Zimbabwe more than three million people depended on the industry for their livelihoods, hence Government would continue to support the sector.
