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• Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Crop May Decline 40% This Year (Update2) 

Zimbabwe’s official tobacco harvest may fall as much as 40 percent to 42 million kilograms (93 million pounds) this year as destitute farmers sell the leaf illegally, the government’s Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board said.

The southern African nation last year produced an estimated 70 million kilograms of tobacco leaf. The exact size of the crop may be difficult to measure because destitute farmers are selling their leaf on the black market, Andrew Matibiri, chief executive officer of the board, said in a phone interview from the capital, Harare, today.

“The practice is illegal, but some farmers are desperate because they’re facing challenges,” said Matibiri. Under Zimbabwean law, tobacco can only be sold on auction or to licensed merchants.

Farmers are selling tobacco for as little as $1 a kilogram, compared with an average price of $3.20 a kilogram last year, the marketing board chief said. The southern African nation produces flue-cured tobacco that rivals the U.S. for quality.

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