ZIMBABWE is on track to break its record for tobacco production in the 2024/25 agricultural season, driven by a substantial increase in seed purchases and more favourable weather forecasts.
Last season cash crops such as tobacco were affected by the El Nino induced drought, with the 2024 tobacco harvest estimated to be 235 million kilogrammes compared to around 295 million in 2023.
According to the Kutsaga Tobacco Research Board, as of August 1 growers had acquired over one million grammes of seed capable of covering 201 036 hectares.
It is a significant increase from the same period last year when 831 000 grammes of tobacco seeds were purchased, sufficient for 164 200 hectares.
Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association chairman George Seremwe expressed optimism that next year’s production will surpass previous records.
“This could be a record-breaking year encouraged by last season’s good prices and the absence of alternative crops paying better than the golden leaf,” Seremwe told Standardbusiness.
Seremwe said potential to exceed both the area record of 146 000 hectares set in 2019 and the output of last year.
Tobacco Farmers Union Trust vice president Edward Dune said seed sales were a reliable indicator of hectarage that would be put under tobacco in the forthcoming season.
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“Given the tobacco pricing matrix over the years, coupled with the positive effects of the forecast La Nina weather, farmers will have no choice but to do anything possible to get good quality leaf that will fetch high prices,” Dune said.
Meanwhile, Seed Co Limited Group secretary Tineyi Chatiza said the company was geared to to meet the demand for seeds in both local and export markets during the upcoming season.
“We are counting on our substantial seed stock to satisfy the demand amid strong projections for a good rainfall season,” Chatiza said.
He said SeedCo was adequately stocked with 28 000 tonnes at the close of 2024 financial year including estimated deliveries that were more than adequate for the local market and to satisfy the 8 100 tonnes of confirmed export orders.
Food security initiative, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FewsNet) said this year’s tobacco sales had earned some farmers from tobacco-growing areas income at the auction and contract floors but was still below normal.
“According to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, tobacco prices were 15 and 25 percent higher this marketing season than last year at the contract and auction floors, respectively, although lower yields impacted earnings for some farmers,” FewsNet said.
“Income from some cash crops, such as tobacco, is also below normal for some farmers due to low to failed harvests.”
Tobacco is the country’s top agricultural cash crop and second biggest export earner after gold, generating a substantial amount in foreign currency for Zimbabwe annually.
