Zimbabwe tobacco team on study tour

TOBACCO stakeholders from Zimbabwe are in the country for a study tour to learn, among other things, best farming practices as well as the way the sub sector deals with tobacco farming contracts.

A six-men team, from the Zimbabwe Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) have visited all the tobacco traders currently operating in the country - the Tanzania Leaf Tobacco Company Limited (TLTC), the Tanzania Tobacco Processors Limited (TTPL) in Morogoro, Premium Active Tanzania, Alliance One Tobacco Tanzania Limited and JTI- Leaf Services.

The visit takes place at a time when tobacco growing countries south of the Sahara, in which over 10 million people in the region depend on tobacco for their livelihood, have agreed in principle to share best practices that include reforestation and food security.

Speaking during a training workshop in Morogoro, Group Corporate Affairs Director of TLTC and TTPL Richard Sinamtwa said contract farming in Tanzania was earning farmers and other stakeholders millions of shillings and foreign currencies, while ensuring the crop is compliant in terms of good agricultural practices, sustainability of the environment as well as traceability, key attributes in positioning the crop in the global market.

He said, in Tanzania tobacco contract farming embraces government policy on encouragement of growers to source own inputs, while the market is placed at the growers doorstep at a minimum indicative price that is negotiated by all stakeholders in a forum recognized by law and covers the whole run of crop ahead of farming.

'This is unique compared to other origins in Africa which are auction based, potentially exposing growers to the dictates of global demand and supply' The whole system enjoys support from government that guarantees financial institutions to offer loans to growers, through the Central Bank, thus converting a sub sector that was not bankable into one which is now bankable.

Mr Sinamtwa further said it was encouraging so far to see that loan recoveries recorded encouraging results. The crop has a potential to continue leading as a traditional cash crop forex earner for the foreseeable future.

Mr Sinamtwa argued the sub sector through the Tanzania Tobacco Board, must however address efficiencies by reducing market centres from the current number of more than 250.

This will consequently reduce the crop circle, and thus reduce costs that are unnecessary. On his part, the TTPL Factory Director, David Crowhurst said, TIMB had a great opportunity to follow through how tobacco was received, analysed and graded before value addition through processing.

Mr Crowhurst added, the team was able to see how investment through privatization can bring about changes in the form of State of the art equipment used in the factory, a robust health and safety program as well as enhancement in employment. Historically TTPL was the only government owned tobacco processing plant in the Country.

TIMB technical Manager Blessing Dhokotera, on behalf of the team thanked the TLTC management for the workshop, saying what TLTC was doing was an eye opener for them.

He said although Zimbabwe was a leading FVC tobacco producer in Africa, there was still a lot the Country could learn from Tanzania, especially from what TTPL was doing in areas of agro processing and from TLTC contract farming TIMB identified areas of similarity that the two Countries could share best practices include side selling, reforestation and contract farming that allows crop traceability.

TIMB is primarily a regulatory and advisory statutory body. It controls and regulates the marketing of tobacco and sale of tobacco in Zimbabwe.

It also collates statistics relating to the provision, marketing, manufacture and consumption of tobacco as well as distributing market studies and information relating to the marketing, manufacture and consumption of tobacco.

According to Dhokotera, a total of 195.7 million kilogrammes of tobacco has been sold since Zimbabwe's selling season opened in March this year. This translates, according to TIMB latest statistics, into 577 million US dollars.

SOURCE: DAILY NEWS

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