Zimbabwean tobacco growers have earned USD 319 million from the sale of 133 million kilogrammes of flue-cured tobacco since the marketing season started at the end of April, The Herald reported.

This is an increase of 19 per cent in earnings compared to the same period last year. The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) statistics show that during the same period last year farmers had sold 146 million kilogrammes valued at USD 268,1 million.
Most of the crop has continued to come from the contract floors where 126.8 million kilogrammes worth USD 303 million have been sold compared to 5.8 million kilogrammes worth USD 15.9 million that have come through the auction system, the report said.
There have been concerns about the domination of the market by contractors, but some farmers indicated that they were attracted to the contract system because of the readily available inputs and higher prices. According to TIMB statistics, the highest price at the auction floor since the opening of the marketing season towards the end of April remained at USD 4.99 per kilogramme, while the highest contract price is USD 6.60 per kilogramme. Most of the 33 contractors said they offered higher prices to their contracted growers because of the high leaf quality and also as protection against side-marketing of their crop.
According to the report, Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president, Shadreck Makombe, said the introduction of the foreign currency auction system had helped to motivate farmers to deliver their crop to the auction floors. “The fixed rate had made some farmers shy away from selling their crop, but now that we have the auction system, we hope our farmers will continue to deliver their crop, but at the end of the day it is an individual farmer’s decision to decide when to sell,” he was quoted as saying.