The global supply of tobacco was negatively affected by an El Nino-induced drought.

TOBACCO exports for 2016 show that the country has earned US$722 million from the 131 million kilogrammes of tobacco.Major export destinations are China, Indonesia, Belgium, South Africa, Sudan and Russia.

Tobacco exports have increased compared to the US$692 million earned from 124 million kg exported last year.For the 2016/2017 season farmers plan to plant 15 000 hectares compared to 16 700 hectares during the same period last year.

Statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board show that 72 500 growers had registered for the new cropping season compared to 69 000 during the same period last year. Of the 72 500, 13 500 are new growers.

During the 2015/2016 season tobacco growers produced 202 million kilogrammes, earning the country US$600 million.Addressing guests at a ceremony to mark the closure of the 2016 tobacco marketing season, Reserve Bank governor, John Mangudya, said the central bank was rewarding tobacco farmers with an incentive for their efforts in generating foreign currency for the country.

As a way of encouraging exports and productivity, government recently 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 up to five percent on the foreign currency generated. The incentive is paid in bond notes, which have the same value as the US dollar.

“Farmers will get their money end of November. Tobacco farmers are the biggest beneficiaries of the export incentive. We should look after the goose that lays the golden eggs.

“The five percent export incentive will be deposited into the farmers’ accounts and they can use the money to buy inputs,” Mangudya said. More than 80 percent of this year’s crop was produced under contract and the Agriculture Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister, Joseph Made, urged farmers to respect their contractual obligations to protect the investments.

“The investors and contractors must ensure that the farmers are supplied with the appropriate quantities of their inputs and these should be distributed timeously. Both the contractor and the farmer must ensure that the crop is produced in a sustainable manner, as this is the new demand for the markets,” Made said.

The global supply of tobacco was negatively affected by an El Nino-induced drought.