Farai Mabeza, Senior Staff Writer 
EVEN as the country closes in on an all-time record of tobacco output, the government has tasked the Tobacco Research Board (TRB), now rebranded to Kutsaga, to come up with higher-yielding varieties for the crop.
Sales for the ongoing 2023 marketing season are hovering around the 290 million kilograms mark, surpassing the previous record of 259 million kilograms attained in the 2019 season and moving towards the 300 million kg target set for 2025.
“Despite the TRB’s expanded mandate… research work on tobacco has not suffered as evidenced by the fact that new genetics continue to be developed and a batch of four climate-smart varieties was released in March this year.
Agriculture minister Anxious Masuka
“At this point, I want to challenge the TRB to develop varieties with 6 000 to 8 000kg per hectare yield potential while maintaining the quality of already existing genetics. This will be a game-changer for the industry and Zimbabwe,” Agriculture deputy minister David Marapira said at the recent TRB rebranding launch.
According to board chairperson Stanley Mutepfa, the yield potential of Kutsaga varieties has increased through research from about 80 kg per hectare in the 1950s to 5 000kg per hectare currently and up to eight disease resistances have now been incorporated into hybrid varieties since the 1960s.
The research institution also exports a large quantity of its seed stock to other countries within the region.
The push to increase tobacco productivity also comes amid an aggressive expansion of the institution’s mandate which culminated in the rebranding.
“We find ourselves amid a fourth industrial revolution, which has seen the greater use of artificial intelligence and predictive data analytics in agriculture and the rise of precision agriculture in monitoring, diagnosing insect pests, measuring soil moisture, diagnosing harvest time and monitoring crop health status.
“TRB is evolving to meet the challenges and exploit the opportunities years presented by the 4th industrial revolution,” chief executive, Frank Magama said.
“The government of Zimbabwe launched the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), which become operational in January 2021 and is set to run until 2025. TRB had a huge role to play in the execution of this plan, by executing several activities laid out in the attendant parent ministerial plans, specifically the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy and the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, necessitating a lot of change in TRB’s programmes.
“Against this background, the ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, expanded TRB’s mandate under the auspices of the National Developmental Strategy,” Magama explained.
“Now in addition to its mandate to direct, control, and carry out tobacco research in Zimbabwe, TRB’s mandate includes; Researching the use of fourth industrial technologies in agricultural production; Conducting biopharming research; researching methods and techniques for climate-proofing of crops; mainstreaming sustainable crop production methods; Development of cannabis and industrial hemp varieties; and Production of certified seed potato with the object of achieving national self-sufficiency in potato production.
“Although we will always remain grounded in our tobacco research roots, TRB has grown beyond just a tobacco research institution to a much more diverse agricultural research institution. We have expanded the scope of our research activities and we engage in commercial activities to help fund our research activities.”
