ZIMBABWES tobacco farmers will from next week start to benefit from a 20% foreign currency retention scheme which is expected to allocate them US$80-million from this year’s tobacco crop. Tobacco remains a major foreign currency earner for the cash-strapped government. Now, of the forex that is earned through sales, 20% will be reserved for growers to help them buy inputs such as diesel, fertilizer and seed. Some 12 000 smallholder and large-scale farmers will receive the funds. The ministry of finance and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe approved the 20% retention scheme to ensure that the farmers can afford inputs needed for growing tobacco. – Irin