Zimbabwe's tobacco booms, but Black growers complain of debt

Zimbabwe’s tobacco is flourishing again

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's tobacco is flourishing again. And so are the auctions where premium prices are being paid for the “golden leaf” that is exported around the world. Most of the growers are Black, a historic change from when tobacco was largely produced by white farmers. But many of the small-scale farmers complain they are being impoverished by middlemen merchants who are luring them into a debt trap. Rosemary Dzodza recently traveled 200 kilometers (125 miles) to the capital, Harare, with her tobacco crop for what she hoped would be a good payday. The 60–year old farmer ended up sleeping in the open for two weeks awaiting payment. When the money eventually came, it was just a tiny fraction of what her tobacco had actually fetched at the auction.