Significant drop in tobacco sales

Tobacco sales at the opening of Zimbabwe's annual tobacco auction this week fell by around a third on last year's level. On Wednesday just 414 bales were sold compared to last year's 1,500. "On average we have been able to produce 165 million kg of tobacco annually, but this year it appears that between 100 and 120 million kgs will be delivered to the auction floors. The gap is significant but one must take into consideration mitigating factors such as the recent drought, which had a serious effect on the crop," General Manager of Zimbabwe's Tobacco Growers Trust (TGT) Thomas Nherera told IRIN. Nherera downplayed concerns, saying: "Sales in the first two weeks are generally slow, but that generally picks up in the fourth and fifth weeks". He added that because of the late seasonal rains, part of this year's crop had yet to be harvested. "Four months ago forecasts for the 2003 tobacco crop were bleak but the late rains changed all that. Overall, there has been a delay in harvesting because farmers were caught off-guard by the drought. Added to that, the rains have made it difficult to estimate exactly how much tobacco will eventually reach the floors," Nherera said. Tobacco is the country's main foreign currency earner, accounting for an estimated 31 percent of earnings in 2001. Some analysts have said that this year's poor showing could be attributed to the government's fast-track land reform programme. They pointed out that because of a lack of expertise and inputs, newly resettled farmers would not be able to maintain production levels. "The shortfall in production is due in part to the number of new growers on small-scale resettled farms. This year has been a learning curve for them, but it must be noted that the country's agricultural sector is in a transitional period. There are, however, signs of improvement, which means within the next year or two we should get back to the annual 165 million kg," Nherera said.