Zimbabwe: Small-Scale Tobacco Farmers Assured of Enough Fertilizer

Source from:  The Herald (Harare) 8 November 2007 11/09/2007

The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board is expecting to meet fertilizer requirements of the 7 000 small-scale tobacco farmers under its input credit facility. TIMB acting chief executive officer Dr Andrew Matibiri said they were expecting to receive 1 000 tonnes of compound C fertilizer from Omnia's factory in Banket. "We expect the fertilizer to be delivered anytime today or tomorrow," he said. In addition, Dr Matibiri said they were expecting additional consignment of 7 000 tonnes of the same fertilizer from South Africa. The fertilizer, which was sourced through the Reserve Bank, was due in the country within the next two weeks, he said. Dr Matibiri said the delivery of both consignments would satisfy farmers' needs. "If we get all the fertilizer we should be okay because we had a shortfall of 6 000 tonnes," he said. Dr Matibiri said TIMB was also expecting to meet its requirements for ammonium nitrate fertilizer through their allocation of 1 000 tonnes from the 10 000 tonnes that was being shipped from China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corpora-tion. "We are not sure when that fertilizer will be in the country, but it's coming," he said. TIMB has been battling to meet fertilizer requirements under its credit facility due to inadequate stocks. To date, TIMB has managed to disburse 1 200 tonnes of compound fertilizer and 100 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which was left over from last year. He said TIMB was targeting to disburse a total of 5 000 tonnes of compound C and 1 000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate top dressing for this season. Meanwhile, Dr Matibiri said the tobacco marketing body had instituted procedures to clear the way for it to go on the market to raise more funds for its input credit facility. Dr Matibiri said TIMB was in the process of seeking the required guarantees and approval for them to go on the market. "We are now at an advanced stage and we should be somewhere by this time next week," he said. The board received $40 billion for the facility against their request for $1,5 trillion. The money raised on the market would be used to procure chemicals and fertilizers for distribution to the small-scale farmers. The board was currently disbursing chemicals such as Temik and Tamaron, which are critical in the planting stages. Dr Matibiri indicated last week that while the two chemicals were being procured locally, they were more expensive hence the need to raise more funds to meet demand. Temik is used to control nematodes while Tamaron is used to control aphids. Through the TIMB initiative the 7 000 farmers were expected to plant a total area amounting to 12 000 hectares. A target of 120 million kg has already been set for this year's tobacco crop and preliminary indications are that preparations are well on course. A total of 495 kilogrammes of tobacco seed has been sold to date, an all-time record for the country. If the seed is planted at the correct sowing rate of an average 6,5 gram per hectare it would cover over 75 000 hectares, which is sufficient to yield the set target. Enditem