124 000 register to grow tobacco

OVER 124 000 tobacco farmers have so far registered to grow the cash crop during the 2018-19 season compared to 84 000 who registered last season.

At least 30 000 farmers among the 124 000 registered for the first time.

The registrations are 47 percent more than those recorded during the same period last year.

Farmers growing irrigated tobacco have also started transplanting in different parts of the country.

According to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board statistics, all the tobacco growing provinces except for Masvingo, have registered an increase in the registrations.

TIMB statistics show that by September 20, 124 220 farmers had registered for tobacco for the 2018-19 season compared to 84 688 who had registered during the same period last year.

Mashonaland Central has the highest number of registered growers with 49 838 having registered up from 31 991 last  year.

Mashonaland West registrations increased by 48 percent from 28 991 growers last year to 41 496 this year, while Mashonaland East recorded an increase of 47 percent from 11 673 to 17 206 growers.

Midlands has 444 registered growers for the 2018-19 season up from 242 who had registered during the same period last year

Masvingo has 130 registered growers up from 75 last year, while the Matabeleland region has one grower registered for the next season.

The increase in registrations has largely been influenced by the need for farmers to obtain individual growers’ numbers so that they benefit from the introduction of foreign currency incentives.

Government in 2016 awarded tobacco farmers an export incentive, which rewards the growers for generating foreign currency through exporting goods and services.

The incentive pays the farmer a bonus of 12,5 percent on the foreign currency generated.

The use of plastic money has also made it difficult for the farmers to share their money after selling their crop as they are no longer paid in  cash.

The money is now being deposited in bank accounts or paid through EcoCash.

Farmers have confirmed that they have been using other farmers’ growers numbers to sell tobacco, but the introduction of plastic money and foreign currency incentive had made it difficult for them to continue with the system popularly known in tobacco growing areas as “kuberekana”.

Zimbabwe is the major flue-cured tobacco producer in Africa and occupies fifth position in the world as many communal farmers joined the lucrative farming sector following the land reform programme.

The 2018 flue-cured tobacco deliveries have reached a record 252 million kilogrammes, the highest ever in the history of the country.

The previous record was 237 million kg, which was achieved in 2000.

The increase in tobacco production has been attributed to high prices and an organised market, availability of funding through contractors and Government.

Tobacco has earned a strategic position in the economy because of its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product and foreign currency earnings.

In Zimbabwe, over three million people depend on the industry for their livelihoods.

The land reform programme embarked on by Government in year 2000 has seen more indigenous farmers growing tobacco in a move that has economically empowered them.