The output for this year's tobacco marketing season in Zimbabwe is expected to decline as the crop and the barns were damaged by Cyclone Idai, The Chronicle reported.

The natural disaster destroyed large parts of the eastern provinces. “A lot of farmers in Manicaland and parts of Mashonaland East were affected as they lost some of the crop in the field and also close to about 550 barns collapsed,” Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) chief executive officer, Dr Andrew Matibiri, was quoted as saying. “As a result of the adverse effects of the calamity, there is going to be a significant decline of tobacco output this year. We are yet to account how much we are likely to lose as a result of the disaster.”
Zimbabwe, the world's largest exporter of flue-cured tobacco, last year broke its previous record of 236.9 million kilogrammes from 2000 to 253 million kilogrammes, the report said.