Zimbabwe's tobacco crop grows, despite high fertilizer costs

Get Nadine White's Race Report newsletter for a fresh perspective on the week's news Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The war in Ukraine affected Zimbabwe's tobacco farmers “quite badly because it happened at the time when we were planting our crop, so we did pay more for fertilizer than we should have,” said Patrick Devenish, chairman of the regulatory body, the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board. In recent years Zimbabwe has rapidly increased the size of its crop, regaining its spot as one of the world’s top five exporters of tobacco, peaking at 261 million kilograms in 2019. Under the system, the Chinese firm loans seeds, fertilizers, food, and money for labor and wood to Black farmers who now make up the majority of Zimbabwe's tobacco producers. He said that next season the government will advance $60 million to farmers under a tobacco transformation plan that seeks to improve local funding of the crop from the current 5% to 70% by 2025.