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• BAT to continue sponsoring underprivileged students  

BRITISH American Tobacco will continue supporting underprivileged students to attain their goals by providing scholarships for tertiary education, the company said last week.

Speaking at the presentation of two scholarships to two University of Zimbabwe students in Harare, British American Tobacco Zimbabwe Limited board member, Mr Jeremiah Tsodzai, said the company would continue to empower students especially those that were underprivileged.

"We subscribe to the business principle of good corporate conduct which captures how the company strives to manage the business. Business success brings with it an obligation for high standards of behaviour and integrity in everything we do and whatever the company is associated with," Mr Tsodzai said.

BAT Zimbabwe (Holdings) Limited managing director, Mr Lovemore Manatsa said so far 52 students had benefited from the Undergraduate Scholarship Scheme established in 2005.

The scheme is run with the blessing of the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education and has drawn participants from various State tertiary institutions and agricultural colleges around the country.

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Finance Constrains Tobacco  

LACK of finance continues to hamper a proper rebound of tobacco production as the planting of irrigated tobacco started last week. Financing of the 2009-2010 tobacco season has been unstable, with prospective financers still to make a full commitment.

This is likely to affect the anticipated increase in production which has far reaching effects on the entire economy.

Zimbabwe Tobacco Association president Kevin Cooke confirmed that the planting of the dry land crop started last week.

"Basically planting of the dry land crop went ahead well but there are problems with the unavailability of inputs and finance for the production of the crop," said Cooke. "There is a large number of tobacco farmers who have not received inputs on time and this may affect ultimate production."

A rebound of tobacco production has continuously been hampered by unavailability of inputs.

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Finance constraints hamper tobacco industry revival 

FINANCIAL constraints are a hurdle to the revival of the tobacco industry, where output� plummeted in the last seven years. There are serious liquidity problems with financial institutions struggling to raise funds, not only for the support of the agriculture sector, but for all the sectors of the economy.

Zimbabwe is targeting a total 65 000 hectares for tobacco cropping which could translate to around 80 000 tonnes at an average yield rate of 1 330 kilogrammes a hectare.

Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chief executive officer Andrew Matibiri confirmed that they were targeting 65 000 hectares which would be a slight improvement on the 48 000 hectares planted last season.

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Tobacco Growers Switch to New Technology 

More than 80 percent of tobacco growers have switched to the float bed system ahead of the 2010 deadline, head of the Nematology Department at Kutsaga Research Station, Mr Cleopas Chinheya revealed recently. Mr Chinheya said methylbromide was being phased out because it was hazardous to the environm...

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• Storm at DeMbare 

PREMIERSHIP side Dynamos are set to lose close to US$1 million from their official sponsors — Savanna Tobacco — if they play in an Oya Challenge, which is bankrolled by a rival tobacco company Blend Value on October 4. DeMbare, who are are sponsored by Savanna Tobacco through their Pacific Storm brand have been hand picked to play against CAPS United in the Oya Challenge.

The new kid on the block is using the derby to promote their brand — Oya.

Savanna Tobacco have threatened to pull the rug on Dynamos if they go aheadand play as the contract forbids them from associating with rival tobacco companies.

DeMbare are set to lose US$370 000 which is expected to go towards the purchase of a luxurious team bus. In addition to this, the Glamour Boys will lose their branded kit and the payment of salaries for the players.

Savanna Tobacco dropped the bombshell on DeMbare, in a letter to Zifa chief executive officer Henrietta Rushwaya on Friday.

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• Sweet Kiss of Life  

MONOMOTAPA have received a major boost in their tough battle to turn around a Champions League campaign that has gone off the rails with a local tobacco company, Blend Value, injecting US$50 000 into their coffers ahead of their showdown against Congolese giants TP Mazembe at Rufaro tomorrow.

The cash injection by the company a new player in the local tobacco industr is meant to boost morale among the Monomotapa players and help them focus on their assignment against the former African champions. . . .

Mugavazi and Sibanda certainly have friends and, among the people they can call their partners, are the directors of Blend Value Tobacco, who yesterday unveiled a US$50 000 package to help Monomotapa in their hour of need.

Blend Value Tobacco are the manufacturers of the Oya! brand, which they want to dominate the domestic market, and they have already announced that this is just the start of their big partnership with Zimbabwean football.

Blend Value director Tawanda Chitapi, a prominent Harare lawyer, said his company decided to help Monomotapa because the Harare side was representing the country and needed the help of everyone in their bid to try and conquer the continent. . . .

"If Blend Value are the tobacco company that is sponsoring football, we believe that football should also appreciate that support with the fans choosing their products ahead of their competition which might not be playing a part in the game.

"We decided to help Monomotapa so that they can sort out some of the challenges that they have been facing of late," said Chitapi.

The Harare lawyer is also a passionate football fan who has worked, mostly behind the scenes, resolving some of the wrangles that have beset the national game.

"It's important, in our small way, to play our part in the area of social responsibility. "After reading about Monomotapa, and the challenges they were facing with regard the need to raise money for their campaign, we decided to partner Zifa and assist the team. . . .

The Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters' Association yesterday issued a rallying cry to the country's football fans to come in their thousands and back the Monomotapa cause at Rufaro tomorrow.

ZNSSA security chief Fortune Bgwoni also hailed Blend Value for leading the way in helping Monomotapa in their hour of need.

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Bank avails US$60m for tobacco  

Tobacco small-scale farmers should benefit from the US$60 million facility that was availed by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to finance tobacco production this season, Tobacco Industries and Marketing Board chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri has said.

The bank announced that it was finalising a US$60 million credit line scheme to boost flue-cured tobacco production ahead of the next season at the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association congress recently held in Harare.

In an interview, Dr Matibiri said small-scale tobacco growers were in dire need of funding since they faced financial problems every season.

He, however said he was still in the dark as to where the funds were and how they were going to be disbursed.

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Side-Marketing Threatens Contract Farming's Future 

THE future of the contract farming system in the tobacco industry is under threat from farmers who are breaching their contracts through side-marketing, with the situation likely to impact negatively on the next season.

Side-marketing is when a farmer decides to sell their produce outside the contractual agreement after being supplied with inputs to grow the crop.

According to statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, 90 percent of the crop grown last year was under contract farming, but it was now being sold through the auction system.

TIMB had estimated that 5 million kilogrammes of tobacco would go under the hammer but that has been surpassed, confirming suspicion that farmers were side-marketing their crop.

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GUVAMOMBE: It pays to move with times  

WHEN the Government embarked on the land reform programme about a decade ago, it automatically opened avenues for black farmers to venture into new areas of agricultural production which had largely remained the preserve of a few white commercial farmers in Rhodesia in the early years of the country’s independence.

One of these crops is tobacco, the cash cow that has since transformed the lives of many farmers.

Internationally, tobacco production systems have been changing technologically and the only way new Zimbabwean tobacco farmers can remain viable is to move with international technological changes.

Now that it is abundantly clear that the land reform programme is irreversible, Zimbabwe needs to retain its status as Southern Africa’s main producer of tobacco used as blend. . . .

For Zimbabwe to retain its status as one of the major producers of the golden leaf, farmers must show dynamism by moving with the times and harnessing new international technological changes. . . .

Available statistics show that Zimbabwe has managed to phase out the use of about 100 000 tonnes of methyl bromide in the 2009 summer crop alone through the use of a more economical technology called the float tray system.

Trays of seedlings floating in water have replaced the ordinary seedbeds done on the ground under the traditional garden system.

One of the farmers who have successfully abandoned the seedbed and effectively the use of methyl bromide is Mr Douglas Charles Mhembere of Ushamba Farm in Trewlaney who used to grow 15 hectares of tobacco using the seedbed system.

After embarking on the new method he has since moved up to 50ha after finding the floating tray system easy to manage and more efficient. . . .

With the use of floating trays, it sounds much easier to avoid soil-related problems in seedling production. Zimbabwean farmers should be encouraged to engage in the new technology.

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Savanna Tobacco plans to double production  

THE country’s fastest growing indigenous cigarette manufacturing and tobacco processing company, Savanna Tobacco has embarked on an intensive recapitalisation programme that is set to double the production output of the company by year end.

The tobacco company is carrying out the recapitalisation programme by increasing its distribution fleet throughout the country as well as expanding operations to meet market demands.

Savanna Tobacco executive chairman, Adam Molai said two new brands of cigarettes had been introduced into the market and there was need to reach out to the market while encouraging diversity.

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Tobacco sales to surpass 42 million kg target 

TOBACCO sales look set to surpass the anticipated 42 million kilogrammes this season, with 41,4 million kg already sold through auction and the contract system as of last Friday.

The floors will be open until the end of August and usually more tobacco is sold towards the end of the selling season as growers anticipate higher prices then.

Growers have so far pocketed US$124 million out of the sales. The bulk of the sales are coming in through contract.

Tobacco Industry Marketing and Board said tobacco has been selling at an average US$2,98 since the selling season opened in May.

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Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Earnings Increase 20% on Improved Deliveries  

Zimbabwe tobacco farmers earned 20 percent more from sales of the leaf in the first seven weeks of auctions than they did last year, because of improved deliveries, the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board said.

Growers earned $102.7 million in the seven weeks to July 4, compared with $85.5 million a year earlier, the government agency said in an e-mailed statement today. Deliveries totaled 34.9 million kilograms (76.9 million pounds), compared with 27 million kilograms previously, it said.

The average price of a kilogram of flue-cured tobacco fell 7 percent to $2.94 a kilogram this year, the Harare-based board said. Sales of tobacco seeds for the 2009-2010 season have jumped 67 percent to 247,460 kilograms from a year earlier, the board added.

“Now that we’re being paid in foreign currency for all our crop, tobacco is becoming viable again,” Joseph Mapranga, a tobacco farmer from Zimbabwe’s northeastern Centenary district, said in a phone interview today.

Zimbabwe may sell about 42 million kilograms of tobacco this season, down from an estimated 75 million kilograms last year, the board has said.

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Small Zimbabwe Tobacco Crop Reaches Record Prices 

Zimbabwe's annual tobacco auctions this year were notable for record prices and the second smallest crop in more than 50 years. Thousands of new small-scale tobacco farmers failed to grow tobacco this season because neither commercial banks nor the government had money to lend for inputs such as fertilizer.

Zimbabwe's 2009 tobacco crop will earn about $160 million this selling season. The average price was about $3.60 a kilogram. Most tobacco will be exported to Europe with China now also an important buyer.

About 50 million kilograms was produced, more than 80 percent of that grown by the few remaining white farmers on the tiny portions of land left untouched by President Robert Mugabe's ongoing seizures of white-owned land.

Until land invasions began in 2000, large-scale white tobacco growers and growing numbers of black farmers produced more than 220 million kilograms of tobacco each year. This was the bedrock of Zimbabwe's economy and the country's largest foreign currency earner.

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2009 seed sales surpass last season’s: TIMB  

THE 2009 flue-cured tobacco seed sales have surpassed last year’s sales by 67 percent, statistics provided by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board have revealed.

A total of 247 460kg of tobacco seed had been sold by June 26 compared to 147 625kg sold during the same period last year. On the other hand, 245kg of burley tobacco were also sold during the same period compared to 40kg sold previously.

Farming experts have attributed this to improvements in the payment system and the introduction of the 100 percent foreign currency retention scheme for farmers.

TIMB chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri said last season’s sales were good although some growers failed to transplant because of fertilizer, chemical and fuel shortages.

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Zimbabwe earns more than 100 mln USD from tobacco 

Zimbabwe has so far earned 102.7 million US dollars from the sale of 34.9 million kilograms of flue cured tobacco at an average price of 2.94 dollars since the marketing season started in May.

This is compared to 27 million kgs worth 85.5 million dollars that were sold at an average price of 3.16 dollars during the comparative period last year, New Ziana said on Tuesday.

Of this year's total, 22.1 million kgs were sold through the contract system while 12.8 million kgs were sold through the auction system.

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