Commercial Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe

Commercial Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe

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Zim fails to meet tobacco target

Zim fails to meet tobacco target

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/

Sunday, 14 August 2011 19:22

BY OUR STAFF

ZIMBABWE has missed the 170 million kg tobacco production target set for the 
industry this year as the selling season for the “golden leaf” comes to an 
end on Thursday.
A clean-up sale will be held on September 20 and, depending on the volume of 
deliveries, would continue for more than one day, until all delivered 
tobacco has been sold.

Statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (Timb) show that 
129,9m kg, a 11% increase from the same period last year, had been auctioned 
at the country’s three auction floors by Thursday.

Tobacco sales raked in US$356 582 527, representing a 4% increase from the 
same period last year.

At best the sales would reach 140 million kg more than 17% short of the 
target.

Andrew Matibiri, the Timb CEO conceded on Friday that the target would not 
be met, attributing it to unfavourable weather conditions that had some 
areas experiencing very wet spells while others went through a drought 
period.

He said handling losses also affected deliveries to the floors.

“Tobacco Research Board records that losses were at 21% and in some cases 
31%,” he said.

Matibiri said farmers were not selling their low quality crop, arguing that 
“it is too costly to bring it to the auction floors”.

At the beginning of the season, Timb set a target of 170m kg. Last season 
123m kg of tobacco were auctioned and Timb hoped the favourable prices 
offered would increase deliveries to the three auction floors this year.

However, the tobacco industry can take comfort in the fact that it had 
reduced the percentage of rejected bales to 7% by Thursday from 8,28% 
recorded in the same period last year.

Bales are rejected when they are, among other reasons, oversize, underweight 
or overweight.

They can also be rejected if they are badly handled (too wet or too dry) and 
mouldy.

Matibiri said the tobacco seed sold so far would cover 91 000 hectares of 
the crop.

Zimbabwe’s tobacco production is on a rebound, buoyed by the favourable 
prices on the auctions.

The high prices have driven farmers to prefer cash crops to staple food such 
as maize, whose price is controlled by government.

Tobacco was the backbone of Zimbabwe’s flourishing economy in the 1980s 
until the late 90s, as good quality leaf was known to originate from the 
country.

But the fast-track land reform programme decimated tobacco production as the 
new breed of farmers lacked the skills and capital to grow the crop in the 
absence of financing from banks.

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