Farmer Protection and Sustainability of Small-scale Tobacco Production in Zimbabwe

The fast-track land reform (FTLR) programme resulted in an influx of small-scale African tobacco farmers. This was a plus for the country. This was followed by an increase in auction floors and the emergency of tobacco contract farming. Since 2000, small-scale tobacco farmers have been accounting for a significant proportion of tobacco produced and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Zimbabwe. Despite the significant contribution by tobacco farmers to the economy, the issue of farmer protection in contractual arrangements is often overlooked when it comes to small-scale tobacco farming. Contract farming encourages sustainable crop production and shift towards crop specialisation, resulting in quality tobacco produced and helping in poverty alleviation among small-scale farmers. Several organisations have been formed to support farmers like, e.g. the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) and the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA), with a spirit to fight to protect farmers. However, small-scale farmers cried out for protection against unscrupulous business players in contract farming from the risk of low prices, fraud and general economic squalour. Several studies have been done on how to increase tobacco production and profitability of farmers, but long-standing issues of famer protection are often left out. It is easily overlooked that tobacco production is a business and that small-scale farmers as players in the business, are driven by motivation (income, returns and protection) just as employees do. Thus, this study focused on the impact of farm protection on small-scale tobacco production in Zimbabwe.