DRY land tobacco farmers have so far planted 2 107 hectares of tobacco countrywide, with most of them taking advantage of the moisture generated by the rains that fell last week, Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) public affairs officer, Mrs Chelesani Tsarwe has said.
The hectarage and number of registered growers for the 2022/23 season had increased compared to last season.
“This is mainly attributed to an increased interest by people to grow the crop,” explained Mrs Tsarwe.
She said that 133, 724 growers had registered to grow the crop this season compared to 111 063 during the same period last year.
Mrs Tsarwe further explained that as TIMB, they were committed to promote the viability of the tobacco into the future and as such they were mandated to ensure that growers got the value of their toil at the end of every season.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZFCU) president, Dr Shadreck Makombe also told The Herald that the process of tobacco planting was progressing very well.
“Dry land tobacco farmers have started planting especially in those areas where the rains fell. The process is going on very well. We will see the planting activities intensifying especially as we go forward from next week onwards,” he said.
Zimbabwe Integrated Commercial Farmers Union (ZICFU) president, Mrs Mayiwepi Jiti also added her voice saying the rains had given farmers a head start to the season since they would not need to ferry water to the fields but use the moisture from the rains.
She said this season’s hectarage was bound to increase with many farmers growing the crop under contract.
On the one hand, planting of the irrigated tobacco, which started on September 1, has still been taking place amid indications that it would be soon coming to an end to make way for the dry land crop.
TIMB has since come up with monitoring mechanisms for compliance on the part of the contractors funding production of the crop to safeguard the interests of farmers most of whom have been nervous following cases of malpractice by some contractors that were unearthed last season.
According to TIMB, the area put under irrigated tobacco was 10 483 hectares as of November 1, bringing the total hectarage under tobacco to 12 590 hectares for both the dry land and irrigated tobacco crops so far.
Tobacco is ranked as one of the most economically important non-food crops in Zimbabwe, earning billions of dollars in local currency annually.
Growing of the crop contributes significantly to improving the livelihoods of many people, from the farmers in the main tobacco areas to the merchants and the processing industry that does a bit of value adding before the leaf is exported. Tobacco farming creates a lot of jobs. – The Herald
