THE Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) has expressed concern over the price exploitation of local tobacco on the regional market by merchants which is adversely affecting the industry. ZNFU commodity chairman Graham Rae said the continued exploitation of local tobacco farmers has a negative impact on the industry. In an interview recently, Mr Rae urged the newly-appointed board at the Tobacco Association of Zambia (TAZ) to investigate why local tobacco is fetching low on the regional market.
He said local tobacco, which is priced at US$4.60 is being treated as inferior when the same commodity from Zimbabwe is fetching US$5.90. “The question is why our tobacco is inferior…I say no, it’s straight exploitation. When you look at the average price of tobacco on the floors now, they are 30 to 50 percent higher than they were last year,” he said. Mr Rae said Zambian tobacco is losing its identity by exporting to Zimbabwe, which later adds value to the product.
“There is a real issue here and as a country we need to find out why our tobacco is being discounted to regional prices in Zimbabwe. If the issue is on value addition, let them tell us so that we can upgrade Tombwe Processing to upgrade the facility to meet international standards,” he said. He wondered why Zambian tobacco should be exported to Zimbabwe to simply enhance their tobacco which has low nicotine and flavour.
“Three years ago, Zambia participated in the international tobacco competition in America and Zambian tobacco came second in the world,” he said. Recently, the Zambia Co-operatives Federation called on Government to quickly address the chaotic tobacco marketing before the opening of the next auction floors. The TAZ is expected to officially open the sales floor price for tobacco on May 11, 2012.
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