A Cabinet Minister has confirmed that the 2022 tobacco selling season in Zimbabwe will get underway on 30 March, reports The Sunday Mail.

The marketing season will be starting with a slight delay due to the fact that the crop was planted late, said Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa. The tobacco selling season will kick off on 30 March with fears that the season could be under threat because of adverse climate conditions. According to The Sunday Mail, climate change has led to extreme hot weather as well as hailstorms that are affecting this year’s tobacco crop.
A total of 110,102 hectares of tobacco has been planted of which 91,592 under dry-land and 18,510 hectares under irrigation. In total, 122,604 growers have registered for the new season, which was down from the 145,625 tobacco farmers that registered last year.
In 2021, Zimbabwe produced 185 million kilograms of tobacco with the majority being exported.