Farmers Threaten to Stop Growing Tobacco

Source from:  By Martin Kadzere  04/13/2005

ZIMBABWE farmers who delivered their crop to the auction floors hoping for "meaningful returns" last week have threatened to withdraw from tobacco farming next year citing the poor prices on offer. Farmers are protesting against the sharp drop in prices from US$2,90 last year to an average of US$0,22 per kilogramme. "We thought the situation will improve since we took up the farming of the crop in 2002, but three years down the line we have not yet realised meaningful returns as tobacco farmers," lamented Mr Noah Mberi who farms in Mutare. "I am actually thinking of pulling out of tobacco and start other agricultural projects," said another disgruntled farmer from Mazowe. The latest developments in the tobacco industry, which is usually regarded as a major foreign currency cash cow, are likely to have far-reaching effects on the production of the crop and economy in general considering the farmers* threats. Bearing in mind that the country was pinning its hopes on tobacco to improve the foreign exchange inflows, there are increasingly vociferous calls for Government to intervene to end the impasse between farmers and the merchants. The current prices are very low and farmers have expressed their displeasure, arguing that they borrowed a lot of money from banks and their chances of paying back now look remote in the absence of an upward review in prices. The majority of small-scale farmers started growing tobacco three years ago after benefiting from the Government*s land reform programme. Since then the farmers have not yet started enjoying "meaningful returns" considering the high cost of inputs such as fertiliser which is eroding their meagre earnings. However, they pointed that their decision to pull out should not be misconstrued as sabotage since they were allocated land under agrarian reform but pointed out that the sector was no longer viable. "We appreciate what our Government has done to allocate land to the landless, but we cannot continue farming when it is apparent that the returns are not satisfactory,"fumed another farmer. Given the importance of tobacco exports to the Zimbabwean economy, analysts, however, said Zimbabwe would need to reduce its dependence on tobacco. In particular, several factors would be significant in the country*s ability to undertake a less painful transition away from tobacco production in the long term. In fact, over the past decade Zimbabwean farmers have diversified into several other export crops over the past decades. For instance, it exported very few cut flowers 20 years ago, but between 1980 and 1999 the total quantity of flower exports increased more than six-fold from 2 900 tonnes to 18 200 tonnes, while export revenue rose from US$13 million to US$84 million. While prices of many agricultural commodities have tended to fall over the past years, Zimbabwe has maintained its exports. For instance, cotton exports increased from 54 000 tonnes in 1981 to around 100 000 tonnes in 2000, while exports of tea and coffee doubled during the same period. Despite the impasse between the farmers and buyers, Zimbabwe is likely to generate close to US$157 million in tobacco sales this year, up by about 30 percent from last year, but this latest chapter could have negative impact on the foreign currency inflows. Enditem