Tobacco Farming Series 2: Understanding the global market

Tobacco Farming Series 2: Understanding the global market

Tobacco Farming

Tobacco remains the most important cash crop in Zimbabwe. Each year thousands of emerging farmers grow, dry, heat-cure and sell tobacco leaves under contract or on the tobacco floors  to buyers in Harare. 

Tobacco floors

Tobacco is the most regulated, and better-organized crops in the country.There are many lessons that other crop producers including the horticulture industry can learn from the tobacco industry. These include a coordinated marketing body, a contracting system and the collection of a levy for reforestation.




While tobacco remains important to Zimbabwe, global sales have been on a steep decline because of growing health concerns and anti-smoking policies in the US and Europe.

Last growing season emerging farmers experienced an overall decrease in tobacco production and leaf quality.This was caused largely by erratic rains and poor production techniques.

Farmers complained about low prices on the tobacco floors from traders in the 2015 selling season. According to Star Tobacco International, emerging farmers received on average $2.95 per kg, which was between 10-15% less than the previous selling season.  As a result, most farmers were unable to repay their high production costs (for labor, transport, seeds, chemicals and fertilizers)

Despite the downward trend, most emerging farmers still consider tobacco a high earning crop (particularly for the premium leaves) compared to other alternative crops. This is certainly worth diving into given the high production costs.

So where does the tobacco go?

The United States is currently the number one global importer of tobacco primarily from Brazil. It also produces its own tobacco for local manufacturing and export.

In the past, Zimbabwe exported most of its flue-cured tobacco leaves to cigarette manufacturers in the US and Europe. Currently, 40% of tobacco exports go to China. China has a growing population of smokers, where 60% of men are smokers. China currently offsets declining exports to the US and the EU. Other export markets include Belgium, South Africa, UAE, Russia and Indonesia.

Let us know your thoughts. Are you planning on growing tobacco this season? Have you signed up for training? Remember to plant trees or better yet use charcoal. 

Images via: New Zimbabwe / Fortune 

Tobacco Farming Series 1: Traceability

Tobacco Farming Series 1: Traceability

Tobacco Farming

TRACEABILITY: The word every tobacco farmer in Zimbabwe needs to know

What is traceability you ask?

Traceability is the ability to trace animals, plants, food products or ingredients throughout the supply chain. In this case, I am going to discuss traceability of the golden leaf—tobacco. Every year this issue comes up for our small-scale farmers and other commercial farmers that sell to the tobacco auction floors. It is one of the major reasons that the farmers keep getting low prices for their crop.

Most of the tobacco grown in Zimbabwe is exported and the overseas customer wants to know everything about where it is coming from. They want to know if the workers are fairly compensated if you are using child labor, if you have any banned chemicals going into the crop, what fertilizers and pesticides went into the crop, and how the crop is handled until the finished product.  Tobacco without this traceability element is becoming more difficult to sell every year, but more of it is grown every year. The buyers know this and so it is part of the reason why they offer the low price for the auction floor tobacco.