Zimbabwe fears weak tobacco crop

The tobacco crop has been halved

Zimbabwe's annual tobacco auctions, the country's key currency earner, have opened with predictions of a poor crop, possibly the smallest since independence.

Only a portion of the world's largest tobacco auction floors were stacked with tobacco bales and the usual opening ceremony was dropped, the news agency AFP reported.

Njodzi Machirori, the chairman of the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB), estimated that between 100 and 120 million kilograms of the leaf would be sold during this year's auctions to October.

Last year 165 million kg were sold, down from 201 million in 2001.

The Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA) estimates the crop at 85 million kg while some growers have put it at below the 67 million crop harvested after independence in 1980.

Growing concerns

Mr Machirori blamed the weak crop on drought and lack of government support for black farmers who have been resettled on land seized from white farmers.

It's a fallacy that only whites know how to grow tobacco

Njodzi Machirori
TIMB

He dismissed claims that black farmers were unable to grow tobacco.

"It's a fallacy that only whites know how to grow tobacco," he said.

Only about a third of the 1,600 white, large-scale commercial growers are still on their land from two years ago.

ZTA figures show there are now 25,000 small-scale, mainly black farmers, up from 6,600 in 2001.

Farmers have complained they cannot get coal - vital for curing tobacco - because output from the Wankie Colliery has been halved by a spare parts shortage.

Transitional issues

In 2001, Zimbabwe was the world's second largest exporter of flue-cured tobacco used in American-blend cigarettes, supplying about a fifth of global demand, which brought in $600m in revenues.

Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa said the weak crop was just a "transitional" phase due to the land reforms.

"There will certainly be less foreign exchange coming through from the tobacco sector, but surely there will be room for improvement (next year)," he said.

Tobacco usually accounts for a third of foreign currency earnings.

Zimbabwe is in recession and desperately needs foreign currency to pay for basic imports like fuel and food.

The highest auction price reported by AFP in the first hour of trade was $2.45 per kilo of the leaf, down from over $3.50 in 1997 and $2.70 last year.