By Conrad Mwanawashe
For generations, the wide plains of Matabeleland North and South have been synonymous with cattle herds, drought-hardened farmers, and resilient rural communities. Tobacco, the country’s famed “golden leaf,” was largely the preserve of Mashonaland’s fertile soils. Few imagined that the sun-scorched lands of the west would one day write their own chapter in Zimbabwe’s tobacco story.
Yet this marketing season tells a different tale.
As the 2026 tobacco marketing season opens, Matabeleland is quietly celebrating a historic milestone. What began as a cautious experiment has matured into a thriving production hub built around Naturally Cured Virginia (NCV)—a tobacco variety uniquely suited to the region’s climate and, crucially, to the demands of a world increasingly focused on environmental sustainability.
From Cattle Country to Tobacco Fields
Grower participation in Matabeleland has surged dramatically. This season 325 farmers are cultivating tobacco in the region, up from 122 growers last year—a remarkable 166 percent increase. Land under tobacco has also expanded sharply, growing from 84 hectares to 370 hectares, a 340 percent leap in a single season.
These gains are feeding into Zimbabwe’s broader tobacco boom. National production reached 355 million kilogrammes in 2025, an 88 percent increase since 2017, reinforcing the country’s position as one of the world’s leading tobacco producers.
But Matabeleland’s rise is not just about numbers. It is about a new way of growing tobacco.
The Sun-Cured Advantage
At the centre of the region’s breakthrough is Naturally Cured Virginia, a tobacco variety that requires no firewood or coal for curing. Instead, farmers rely on Matabeleland’s abundant sunshine and dry winds to cure the leaf naturally.
For communities historically dependent on fragile woodland resources, this distinction matters.
The Policy Behind the Progress
Behind the fields and farmers lies a carefully designed policy framework.
The transformation unfolding in Matabeleland is closely tied to the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan (TVCTP 1), implemented between 2021 and 2025. The programme sought to stabilise the sector after years of volatility while expanding production into new regions and strengthening sustainability.
Through the plan, authorities worked to reform contracting systems, improve seed quality, enhance traceability, and promote climate-conscious production methods.
The objective was clear, “to stabilise, reform, and reposition Zimbabwe’s tobacco industry,” Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) CEO Emmanuel Matsvaire noted during a recent media interface.
The results have been dramatic.
Tobacco growers collectively earned US$1.2 billion in 2025, while average earnings per grower climbed to nearly US$10,000, up 77 percent from 2017. For many smallholder farmers, tobacco has become a pathway into the upper-middle-income rural bracket, advancing the country’s Vision 2030 development ambitions.
The Road Ahead
With the launch of the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan 2 (2026–2030), Zimbabwe is targeting 400 million kilogrammes of tobacco production annually, while deepening sustainability and value addition.
In Matabeleland, farmers believe the region’s sun-powered tobacco will play a key role in that future.
And with it, a new chapter of prosperity for Zimbabwe’s west.