HARARE – The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) has banned the private sale of non-contract tobacco warning that all free-funded tobacco in Zimbabwe will be sold through the auction system this year.
Farmers in the country either self-finance or contract their tobacco production.
Under contract farming tobacco farmers agree to produce tobacco for a specific buyer (usually a processing company), with the buyer providing necessary inputs like seeds, fertilizer, and technical support, in exchange for purchasing the entire tobacco harvest at a predetermined price.
This is often used to facilitate access to credit and markets for smallholder farmers in the country; this system has become a key part of Zimbabwe’s tobacco industry, particularly following land reforms that expanded the smallholder farmer base.
TIMB chief executive officer (CEO) Emmanuel Matsvaire said; “we challenge all the 55 licenced merchants this season that there is no room to buy free tobacco outside auction floors.”
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board is a regulatory and advisory statutory board whose functions include controlling and regulating the growing, marketing and exporting of tobacco in Zimbabwe.
In 1936, through the Tobacco Marketing and Levy Act, the Tobacco Marketing Board was formed resulting in the selling of tobacco through the Auction Floors and, later, Contract floors (from 2004).
The Tobacco Marketing and Levy (Amendment) Act of 1997 saw the Tobacco Marketing Board being renamed to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board.
The Board caters for the interests of all classes of different types of tobacco growers, buyers and other stakeholders.
