“Government is in the process of putting a statutory instrument for all the gold producers, just like what we do under tobacco where there is a grower’s number,” Mangudya told lawmakers in the capital, Harare at a virtual briefing on Monday. “We need to ensure that they do not take the gold out of the country.”

The government keeps a tally of tobacco growers registered with the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board to regulate the industry.

Zimbabwe’s gold deliveries for the five months through May plunged 24% to 7,030 kilograms from a year earlier, according to Fidelity Printers and Refiners, the country’s sole gold buyer. Authorities blame smuggling for the decrease in gold output.

More than $1.5-billion of gold is illegally shipped out of Zimbabwe every year, depriving the cash-strapped economy of crucial foreign-exchange revenues, according to research organization International Crisis Group. The country seeks to produce 30 tons this year after extracting 19.1 tons in 2020.