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Buyers examine tobacco at the sales floor in Harare in this file photo

Charity Ruzvidzo Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union (ZCFU) is advocating for value addition in tobacco production, saying the move will improve the product sale price and benefit to farmers.
ZCFU president Chabikwa yesterday implored the government to urgently consider the matter to consolidate the country’s gains from the golden leaf.

“The government should come up with a legal framework on tobacco beneficiation. This process means that farmers are able to gain more from their produce,” he told Chronicle.

Chabikwa said given the collapse of industries in the country tobacco beneficiation was set to create employment opportunities for many.

“Selling raw tobacco entails creating jobs for those that will add value to it for resell in other nations. If we do the process on our own we can create a situation whereby we create employment for our own people at the same time farmers getting value from their produce,” he said.

“Adding value to the crop will make us number one in the world. China buys our tobacco even if they produce the crop themselves. The process will automatically make it the best.”

Value addition and beneficiation is at the heart of the country’s economic blue-print, Zim-Asset, forming one of the four main economic clusters.

Zimbabwe’s tobacco prices which averaged $3.17 per kilogramme this marketing season were the second highest in the world among countries that produce the cash crop.

Prices in the United States, which hovered around $3.80 per kilogramme, were the highest globally.

The sales earned Zimbabwe about $212.7 million from 46.2 million kilogrammes of tobacco exported to different parts of the world since the beginning of the year.

Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) Chief Executive Officer Dr Andrew Matibiri is on record saying Zimbabwe’s market was lucrative, in part, due to the unique taste and flavour of the country’s tobacco brand whose allure buyers cannot resist.

The soaring tobacco prices on the domestic market, said Dr Matibiri, were also propelled by the sharp increase in the number of growers, which saw farmers in Matabeleland also venturing into gold leaf production.

More than 100,000 growers registered to grow the crop during the 2014/15 season as compared to a cumulative 91,278 farmers the previous season.