Zimbabwe misses tobacco targets

The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) says the industry will fail to meet this year’s projected target of 177 million kilogrammes of tobacco owing to high losses of 31% in farms and 21% during the re-handling process, ZBC News reported on Sunday.
As the tobacco selling season comes to an end this week, farmers are counting their losses while the TIMB indicated that the target of 177 million kilogrammes will not be met owing to various reasons.
TIMB Chief Executive Officer, Dr Andrew Matibiri said drought and other factors such as re-grading of tobacco have impacted negatively on the projected target as 130 million kilogrammes of tobacco have so far been auctioned raking in US$375 million. Continued