Tobacco sector slashes firewood use by 50 percent

THE tobacco industry has intensified its drive towards sustainable curing methods, achieving a 50 percent reduction in firewood usage.

This was revealed by stakeholders at the CORESTA Congress 2026 in Victoria Falls on Monday.

The congress, which drew tobacco researchers, regulators and industry players from across the globe, heard that the sector is moving decisively towards cleaner curing technologies and alternative fuels as pressure mounts to protect the country’s dwindling forests.

In an interview, the Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Dr Anxious Masuka said Government was pursuing a multi-pronged strategy to reduce reliance on indigenous wood, noting that 85 percent of the crop is produced by 135 000 predominantly smallholder farmers.

“The first of course is to look at more efficient curing systems without actually just looking at the means of fuel itself,” Dr Masuka said, citing the Kutsanga rocket barn, which cuts firewood usage by half.

He said Government had waived the levy on coal to encourage farmers to abandon indigenous fuel, while the industry is planting gum trees to shift from indigenous timber to commercial plantations.

“By the 2027 to 2029 season, Government has said from a policy perspective we must begin to phase out the use of indigenous trees, but because 93 to 94 percent of the tobacco is grown on contract, we wanted the contractors to begin to use alternative fuels from their contract schemes with the smallholder farmers,” he said.

Kutsanga Board Chairman Mr Aaron Denenga said the organisation had been closely monitoring harm reduction efforts in partnership with contracting companies and Government departments.

“One of the biggest issues we have in Zimbabwe is deforestation, and now we have come up with new technologies, which Kutsanga itself has come up with, which is better barns that have reduced the use of wood by 50 percent,” he said.

The revelations underscore growing momentum within Zimbabwe’s tobacco value chain to balance production growth with environmental stewardship, as the country seeks to defend its position as one of the world’s leading tobacco producers.