By Munashe Nyuke and Chelesani Tsarwe
As the 2024/25 tobacco farming season wraps up, the industry is now gearing up for another crucial phase, the opening of tobacco marketing floors. This period is critical not only for growers but also for the buyers, processors, exporters, and industry stakeholders. Adequate preparation is essential to ensure a smooth transition from the fields to the markets and that the selling process is efficient and beneficial to all stakeholders.
The 2025 auction tobacco marketing season opens on Wednesday, March 5, while contract tobacco sales will commence on Thursday, March 6, 2025. The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) has licensed two auction floors, the Tobacco Sales Floor (TSF) and Premier Tobacco Auction Floor (PTAF) with 55 Selling Points across 7 Centres. As part of the marketing season preparations, the Board has also held stakeholder meetings with players in the industry to ensure all participants understand the requirements for orderly marketing.
As the industry continues to evolve, this marketing season the Board is rolling out an integrating innovative biometric management system.
The new system introduces biometric data capture, linking each farmer’s unique grower number to their fingerprints, GPS coordinates of their household and farm, and demographic data. This comprehensive profiling will protect farmers and ensure that only genuine farmers participate in the market, thereby curbing side marketing. The information capture exercise will be carried out at designated key selling points, and growers are encouraged to have their fingerprints taken when they sell their tobacco.
In working towards ensuring the tobacco industry remain a viable sector for all players, the Board is also introducing a new pricing model this marketing season. The following days’ minimum price will be based on the average price of all tobacco sold both at auction and under contracts across all grades. This system aims to eliminate the previous imbalance, where auction prices, which account for only 5% of sales, disproportionately influenced contract prices, which represent 95% of national production.
The tobacco industry remains committed to sustainable and ethical labour practices at the selling floors, ensuring that all tobacco brought for sale complies with child labour regulations. Strict monitoring mechanisms are in place to prevent the sale of tobacco produced using child labour, promoting a fair and responsible supply chain.
The opening of the 2025 tobacco marketing floors marks a significant event in the agricultural calendar, and careful preparedness is key to ensuring a smooth and successful season. A well-prepared market benefits not only tobacco growers but also the wider agricultural sector paving the way for a profitable and sustainable industry.
