Zimbabwe: drought reduces tobacco production

Zimbabwe, Africa's largest tobacco producer, began its annual tobacco sales season on Wednesday. Officials and farmers predict a sharp decline in harvests and quality due to a drought attributed to climate change and worsened by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

After a record harvest of 326,000 tonnes last year, the country estimates that production will fall to around 259,000 tonnes this season, Patrick Devenish, chairman of the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board, said at the official opening of the season in Harare, the country's capital.

"Most of our tobacco is grown by small farmers. They depend on rains and a drought is not good for their crop ," Mr Devenish said. “The quality of some tobacco could also be affected.”

He said Zimbabwe sells most of its tobacco to China , although Western and Eastern Europe and parts of Africa remain important markets. In 2023, the country received a record $1.2 billion from tobacco exports, up from $975 million in 2022, according to TIMB. Tobacco is one of the country's main sources of foreign exchange, along with minerals such as gold.

Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka said small farmers, who lack equipment and depend on rain, produce about 75% of the crop. This makes the country's production vulnerable to weather conditions .

Like some of its southern African neighbors, Zimbabwe is grappling with a devastating drought that aid agencies blame on El Niño and climate change .

Tobacco production had resumed in this small African country, after having fallen from around 265,000 tonnes in 1998 to less than 60,000 tonnes ten years later, following the expulsion of several thousand white farmers who represented the majority of farmers.

Thanks to last year's record harvest, Zimbabwe regained its place among the world's top ten tobacco exporters, alongside China, India , Brazil , the United States and Indonesia . who are leading producers.

China played a central role in Zimbabwe's tobacco boom by establishing a system of contract cultivation run by state-owned China National Tobacco Corp , the world's largest cigarette producer. Under this system, the Chinese company provides seeds, fertilizer, food and money to pay for the labor and wood needed to dry tobacco to black farmers, who now make up the majority tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe. In exchange, farmers are required to sell their harvest to the Chinese company or its agents.

Around 95% of Zimbabwean production is financed through this contract system, which is now also offered by some local and non-Chinese foreign companies. Farmers, many of whom cannot obtain loans from banks due to a lack of collateral , say this financing system plunges them into a cycle of debt .

The country hoped to increase its harvest to 330,000 tonnes by the end of 2025 under a government-led tobacco processing plan adopted in 2021. But the drought has seriously undermined farmers' optimism for this season.

According to George Seremwe, president of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers' Association, which represents black smallholders, "the drought is expected to cost farmers 20% or more of their usual income . "

Likephone Makii, a tobacco farmer from Madziwa, about 140km northwest of Harare, looked at the price he received at auction for one of his bales, only $1.70 per kg due to its poor quality, and shook his head in discouragement.

Makii, who has been growing tobacco for nine years, says he usually harvested 6.6 to 7.7 tonnes from his two-hectare plot, which relies on rainwater. He expects to harvest only 3.3 tonnes this season. “This season has been the most difficult for me and my fellow small farmers ,” he said.

Relying solely on tobacco to survive, Makii anticipates that his family will need food assistance to get through the year. He will join millions of others forced to rely on food aid as drought wreaks havoc on families who grow cash crops such as tobacco and staples such as corn , according to food agencies.