Zimbabwe: Transport Blues Hamper Burley Tobacco Deliveries

Source from:  The Herald (Harare) 19 July 2007 07/23/2007

ONLY 52 000 kilogrammes of burley tobacco has been delivered to the Burley Marketing Zimbabwe auction floors, the country's sole buyer of burley tobacco as transport blues continue to hamper deliveries of the crop. Burley, which is one of the three types of tobacco grown in the country, started selling towards the end of last month. According to figures made available by BMZ Limited, a total of 52 299 kilogrammes had been delivered to the floor since the opening of the season, raising fears that the target of 400 tonnes might not be reached. An official with BMZ said: "Burley deliveries have not been very encouraging although we expected the supplies to increase as the marketing season grows. We suspect deliveries are being stalled by fuel shortages and prohibitive transport costs and will improve when the fuel situation stabilises," she said. She said at present farmers were concentrating on delivering flue-cured tobacco which fetched more on the market than burley. Burley farmers have, however, expressed satisfaction with the floor prices. The burley season kicked off on June 22, 2007 and is expected to run until September. Burley growing, which was a preserve of white commercial farmers, before independence, took a slump in 2002 after the Government embarked on the land reform exercise but the firming prices are likely to boost farmers' confidence in the crop. More land is expected to be put under the golden leaf in the 2006/07 season as the country gears to regain its status as one of the world's leading tobacco producers. The number of tobacco growers, particularly flue-cured, has expanded from a handful before 1990 to more than 20 000 in an industry previously dominated by 1 500 white farmers. At its peak in 1999, 92 000 hectares were put under the crop realising 237 million kg in 2000. Newly resettled farmers continue to get assistance from Government. During the 2005/06 season, Govern-ment availed more than $100 billion through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to support 12 000 hectares of smallholder tobacco production. Meanwhile, a non-governmental organisation involved in conscientising people on the effects of the HIV, The Centre, has teamed up with tobacco farmer organisations and auction floors to sensitise farmers on the dangers of HIV and Aids. This follows media reports of high prevalence of unprotected sex at the floors. A series of meetings would be held to find solutions and how to engage farmers in formulating strategies to reduce the prevalence of unprotected sex. Enditem