Zimbabwe Takes Leap Forward with Biometric Tobacco Registration

By Regina Pasipanodya

Zimbabwe’s tobacco industry is on the edge of technological insurgency as the country introduced a biometric registration system that is designed to promote transparency, accountability, and good governance in the sector.

This system which was introduced by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) this year seeks to address the inefficiencies in the tobacco marketing processes caused by side marketing.

During the site visit today at the Tobacco Sales Floor (TSF) and Northern Tobacco to confirm the preparedness of the tobacco auction floors before the official opening of auction floors which is set on the 5th of March 2025, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Honourable Vangelis Haritatos said that over the years the tobacco business has been severely affected by the side marketing resulting in loss of revenue for the farmers as they were deprived of getting fair price of their yields.

“Side marketing has been reducing profits for the farmers and facilitated corruption. Therefore, the biometrics will be used to minimise the amount of side marketing of tobacco during the auction season since every farmer will have their biometrics recorded for future transactions,” said Hon. Haritatos.

The biometric system will be done by recording fingerprints, facial features and so forth.

“I believe that although this is the initial stages in the introduction of the biometric system in Zimbabwe, the method will get better and better as we go. I’ve been with the Ministry of Agriculture for quite some time now, and what I’ve seen is tremendous,” added Hon. Haritatos.

In an interview, the TIMB Chairperson, Patrick Devenish said although the marketing season is set to officially open in a week all preparations for the season are done and TIMB is busy with the implementation of the biometric system.

“We started with fingerprints, and we are now moving into facial recognition.
The whole purpose is to stop site marketing, and we are confident to confirm that this is going to be an effective system in many ways, not only in site marketing but in accessing the markets. We only want original producers of tobacco to come into the market, and that keeps the criminal element out. So we are very confident, but I think it will be effective by next season when every single grower is registered, and from then onwards it will be an ongoing process,” said Devenish.

He emphasised that this year, the biometric system will focus more on getting farmers into the system and this will also be used for price discovery.

The TIMB’s focus on fairness has also led to a reduction in farmers’s cost of production as overcharging has been addressed.

The board has ensured stable tobacco prices maintaining consistency between US$3,05 and US$3,45 for green leaf over the past two years, a rate that may still be maintained in this marketing year season.

“However, considering that the rains came late this year, as TIMB, we anticipated that the situation was going to be bad, but it turned out to be good as the country experienced good rains, which are ongoing now, and we are getting feedback from farmers that we have a very nice, soft-natured, desirable crop. As TIMB, we are estimating about 280 million kilos, which is generally a conservative estimate, but our estimates are usually accurate,” said Devenish.

As Zimbabwe is set to open its floors on March 15, 2025, TIMB revealed that more than 95 percent of the tobacco grown year was contracted by foreign countries a situation that will see forex revenue streaming in but with low tobacco for local production.

Zimbabwe is the largest grower of tobacco in Africa and the 4th largest grower in the world after China, Brazil and the United States.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), in Zimbabwe, tobacco production makes an important contribution to the country’s GDP and to export revenue.

The crop normally accounts for more than 50 percent of agricultural exports, 30 percent of total exports and 10 percent of GDP.

TIMB Acting Chief Executive Officer, Emmanuel Masvaire said the has been a growing number of tobacco farmers over the years with women making the larger portion.

“This season there has been a 7 percent increase in women engaging in tobacco farming and this shows the growing interest and confidence in considering this crop as a major cash crop in Zimbabwe,” said Masvaire.