DROUGHT RAVAGED TOBACCO PRODUCTION, REVEALS TBZ

By NOEL IYOMBWA

TOBACCO Board of Zambia (TBZ) Chief Operations Officer Tyndale Kasongole says the 2024 tobacco production was negatively affected by the dry spells that the country experienced.

In an interview, Mr. Kasongole said as a regulator for farmers that wanted to engage in tobacco production, TBZ conducted registration for all the farmers and thereafter carried out a preliminary projection for a particular season.

He explained that the first preliminary projection for 2024 was at 54 million kilograms, but that after going in the field together with other stakeholders such as buyers and sponsors to confirm the project, it was discovered that the drought negatively affected production.

 “As TBZ, we are the regulator for tobacco production in line with the Tobacco Act. We register any farmer before they start growing tobacco. We conduct projections according to the registration of farmers and then call stakeholders such as the sponsors because 90 per cent of the crop is under sponsorship by buyers and they also submit registration of farmers they have sponsored.

“Our first preliminary projection for 2024 was 54 million kilograms but going in the field to conduct a crop survey for tobacco with teams consisting of buyers, sponsors and associations, what we found was that the aspect of drought affected the production as most nurseries were affected and the quality of the crop was affected,” Mr. Kasongole said.

He said as a result of the drought, the second projection reduced to around 45 million kilograms and that this was the figure the Board was working with but that it might be less because of other factors.

He said this was because at the time of validation, the crop was still in the fields and a number of it could not survive to the end of harvest.

He further disclosed that even commercial farmers who depended on irrigation had been affected because water levels in dams were low thereby limiting their irrigation from full capacity.

He disclosed that despite tobacco being a drought resistant crop, it still required enough water to withstand the harsh conditions to a certain extent.

He said TBZ was monitoring the market and that so far, the harvest stood at 33 million kilograms as it was yet to see if the target would be reached as the marketing season which started in April officially closed in September.