Zimbabwe: Tobacco Production Expected to Surpass 100m Kg

Source from:  The Heraldv 08/18/2009

Tobacco production could easily surpass 100 million kg during the current 2009/2010 season if the amount of seed sold so far is properly planted. Latest statistics made available by the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board show that a total of 377 000 kg of seed has so far been sold this season. TIMB's chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri said the seed sold was sufficient to cover 63 000 hectares. "If the seed is properly planted, then we expect slightly over 120 million kg of tobacco," he said. Dr Matibiri said they were, however, expecting farmers to plant more since there was a lot of seed left over from last season. Tobacco farmers, especially the A2 farmers have been struggling to raise money for the next season, despite a good marketing season in which farmers were paid for their crop in US dollars. Government recently announced that it had set aside US$120 million for tobacco farmers, but this was largely going towards supporting small-scale tobacco growers. A total of 4 084 farmers have so far registered to grow flue-cured tobacco, out of 60 218 that are registered as growers. Meanwhile, tobacco deliveries to the country's three auction floors continue to dwindle as the end of the marketing season draws near. Dr Matibiri, however, said tobacco deliveries had remained firm in terms of contract sales where farmers were delivering an average of 400 tonnes a day. The TIMB board is expected to meet next week to deliberate on the final day of sales, although the tentative date was August 28. Latest figures from the TIMB show that to date a total of US$118,6 million has been realised from the sale of 50,1 million kg at an average of US$2,36 per kg. This is slightly lower than the US$120,1 million that was raised from 37,5 million kg that went under the hammer during the same period last year. Contract sales raked in US$72,6 million from the sale of 34,4 million kg, while 15,7 million kg that was sold under the individual system raised US$45,9 million. Enditem