Zimbabwe on the brink

ZIMBABWE is on the brink of recording its largest-ever tobacco haul, as deliveries at auction floors had reached 251 million kilogrammes by last week, which is 10 million kg shy of the record realised in 2019, highlighting the success of the country's agrarian reforms.

Government believes deliveries might even reach the 300 million kg target, which it had initially envisaged to achieve by 2025 as one of the goals of the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy.

Statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) show that, as of Friday, 250,9 million kg had been achieved, representing a 55 percent improvement from the same period last year.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Permanent Secretary Dr John Basera told The Sunday Mail that concerted efforts by Government have made it possible to surpass targets.

"Going into the new season, we implore, compel and encourage our farmers to adopt all the good and necessary agricultural practices so that they come up with good and disease-free planting material to achieve the 300 million kg target, which we had envisaged to achieve by 2025," he said.

"But we are already positive that we are able to get to that target even before that time because, as of June 1, we were at over 230 million kilogrammes, but we also know that with the commercial crop, which may be to the tune of between 50 and 60 million kg, we can get to 300 million kg.

"We may not be good prophets, certainly, but we believe that we will get closer to that target.

"What we are positive about is that we will achieve our goal before we even get to the year 2025."

Dr Basera praised the Tobacco Research Board (TRB) for using modern technology in research to come up with disease-resistant and drought-tolerant tobacco seed varieties that have seen farmers in dry regions venturing into production of the golden leaf.

"With TRB, we are definitely going for growth. It is actually giving us an opportunity to leapfrog, technology-wise, especially in upscaling our productivity levels, because we know that the moment we increase the productivity level by 10 percent, we stand a chance to reduce poverty levels by 7 percent.

"They have come up with new varieties that are disease-resistant and drought-resistant. We are really impressed, especially with drought-resistant varieties that fulfil Government's Vision 2030 agenda of leaving no one and no place behind. We can now produce tobacco even in the dry parts of the country," added Dr Basera.

TRB chief executive officer Dr Frank Magama urged farmers to use certified tobacco seed for better yields.

"Success in tobacco production starts with good certified seed. Our seed is treated against fungus, among other diseases, such that the farmer does not lose money buying chemicals.

"Annually, we work towards upgrading our varieties to make them resistant to any diseases and, at the same time, give the farmer maximum possible yields," he said.

"We are also into research to come up with varieties that will require less fertilisers but good yield."

Last year, Zimbabwe earned more than US$650 million from sales of the golden leaf, up from US$589 million a year earlier.

The Government plans to achieve a US$5 billion tobacco sector by 2025.