Zimbabwe’s 2019 tobacco marketing season started on 20 March, The Herald reported.

The harvest is expected to be of high quality, although the volumes are unlikely to reach last year's output of 252 million kilogrammes, the highest in the country's history. This is due to El Nino's drought this season, the report said.
Tobacco has contributed significantly to the growth of the agricultural sector and the country's economy. It is the country’s second biggest export earning commodity after gold.
According to the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), growth in agriculture is premised on performance of cash crops such as tobacco, cotton, sugar cane and soybeans.
Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union director Paul Zakariya said tobacco growers were expecting a smooth selling season. “We expect viable prices to cushion farmers from increasing costs of production. Growers are expecting orderly marketing without unnecessary delays. All those things promised by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, auction floors and contractors should be availed. We do not want to see any hiccups in the payment system which normally force farmers to stay at the auction floors for some days,” he was quoted as saying.
171,743 farmers have registered so far for this marketing season, an increase of 40 per cent from the 122,520 who registered during the same period last year. Among them there are 42,083 new growers, an increase of 24 per cent, the report said.