Iden Wetherell in Harare
IN stark contrast to reports of their imminent demise, Zimbabwe’s tobacco growers appear to be flourishing. This year’s flue-cured crop is expected to fetch Z$5,68-billion (R2,5-billion), slightly up on last year’s record Z$5-billion.
This comes in the face of escalating costs, political flak, and a hefty state levy widely predicted at the time of its introduction in June to presage the collapse of the industry.
The growth in world demand for tobacco and rigid adherence to quality standards have seen Zimbabwe’s leaf maintaining its premier position on the world market.
With 136-million kilograms of tobacco already sold from a crop totalling 203-million kilograms, prices are holding reasonably firm, said Brenda Mee of auctioneers Tobacco Sales Floor. But she adds: “had it not been for a good crop the result could have been disastrous”. The tobacco growers’ umbrella body, the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA), is only too aware of the obstacles that lie ahead. This week the ZTA made submissions to Parliament calling for an investigation into how MPs came by forged documents used to vilify both the ZTA and agriculture minister Denis Norman. Several MPs had alleged the ZTA was “thwarting indigenisation” of the tobacco industry in league with former Rhodesian intelligence agents. Black empowerment advocate Roger Boka has accused tobacco growers of transfer pricing, a charge they deny. Boka has meanwhile formed his own association of tobacco merchants and has hired a Chinese company to construct a rival tobacco selling floor.
ZTA president Robert Webb saw President Robert Mugabe last month to appeal against the 10% levy which MPs insisted should fall equally on growers and merchants. Mugabe promised to reconsider if they could make a case showing a negative impact on the industry.
Webb believes he has a case. Prices are 12% down, he claims, and were it not for the levy, tobacco growers would be earning the country up to Z$7- billion.
Furthermore, there are reports the world’s largest tobacco manufacturer, Philip Morris, is developing cold feet about the reliability of the Zimbabwean product following the government’s intervention. “They probably see it as an involvement by government in a hitherto transparent auction system leading to a possible reduction in acreages,” said Webb. “They could see our tobacco becoming uncompetitive.” Webb also believes foreign buyers are unimpressed by the attacks on Norman. “Philip Morris is an extraordinarily good customer to Zimbabwe,” observed Mee. “They need to be constantly assured as to the stability of the market.”
Perhaps the most influential protests have come from nearly 10 000 black small-scale tobacco farmers who have found the levy prohibitive. The ZTA points to its Farm Development Trust scheme as bringing small- scale farmers into a network hitherto dominated by affluent white growers whose conspicuous lifestyles have made them a target of a government desperate for revenue.
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