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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE number of new tobacco growers that have registered to grow the crop in the 2017/18 cropping season has increased by 199 percent to 21 331 compared to 7 131 during the same period last year.

Tobacco expert, Mr Thomas Nherera, is on record as saying the increase in the number of new growers was largely due to the favourable prices at the auction floors.

In Zimbabwe, the golden leaf, which is one of the country’s major foreign currency earners, is grown in seven provinces.

The tobacco growing regions are Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West, Manicaland, Mashonaland East, Midlands, Masvingo and Matabeleland, which is slowly venturing into production of the crop.

Latest statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) show that there are 11 969 new communal growers that have so far registered for 2017/18 cropping season.

A total of 7 870 new A1 farmers have so far registered to grow the crop while 831 new A2 tobacco growers across the country have also registered with TIMB for the next farming season.

Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers grow the crop through irrigation with the transplanting of the seedlings usually starting mid-September while the rain fed crop starts with the onset of the rains in the summer season between October and November.

TIMB also indicated that new small-scale commercial farmers in the upcoming tobacco growing season were 661 as at August 16, 2017.

The 2017 tobacco selling season closed on August 11 with 186.3 million kilogrammes having gone under the hammer at both auction and contract sales generating $552.8 million.

During the same period, tobacco sales clocked 200.7 million kilogrammes generating $590.4 million.

Meanwhile, tobacco exports have since the beginning of the year generated $343 million from 79 million kilogrammes sold to different parts of the world at an average price of $4.34 a kilogramme.

During the same period last year, 61.5 million kilogrammes of flue-cured tobacco valued at $313.1 million were sold across the globe at an average price of $5.09 a kilogramme.

Since the adoption of a multicurrency system in February 2009, the sector has anchored the economy by improving liquidity supply.

Presently, Zimbabwe exports flue-cured tobacco to 58 countries compared to 46 during the same period last year.

In 2016, Zimbabwe raked in $933.6 million from 164.4 million kilogrammes of flue-cured tobacco exported to different parts of the world.

The country exports flue-cured tobacco to countries that include China, South Africa, Vietnam, Lebanon, Honduras, Laos, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Brazil, India, Zambia, Botswana, Malawi, Jordan and the United Kingdom.

@okazunga