Zimbabwe: Country Set to Surpass Tobacco Production Target

Source from:  by the government of Zimbabwe The Herald (Harare) 3 September 2008 09/04/2008

ZIMBABWE is on course to surpass its production target for flue-cured tobacco of 130 million kilogrammes for next year as seed sales have gone beyond 400kg. A total of 434kg of tobacco seed had been sold as of Friday last week, which is sufficient to cover 72 000 hectares, more than the 65 000 hectares required to attain the yield for the intended target. However, the seed bought so far is 10 percent less than the 482 kg that were sold during the same period last year. The Tobacco Research Board reported that it had sold 266 kg while the balance was bought from the Zimbabwe Tobacco Seed Association. With regards to Burley sales, a total of 6,44 kg had been as of last Friday which is enough to cover to cover 900 hectares. The target hectarage has been set at 5 000 ha. Tobacco Industry Marketing Board acting chief executive, Dr Andrew Matibiri was upbeat about the prospects of meeting the target for burley. "Burley is a dry land crop that thrives in hotter climate so sales will go on until October which is the cut off date for planting the crop as opposed to the one for flue-cured which is August," he said. Farmers have made a passionate plea for the speedy distribution of inputs to ensure a successful season. Tobacco production has been largely affected by the non-availability of fertilizers, both Compound C and ammonium nitrate, agro-chemicals and power cuts that affect the irrigation of seedbeds. The shortage of electricity has already impacted negatively on this year's winter wheat programme, with farmers failing to meet the target as some of the crop has been written off due to moisture stress stemming from the fact that farmers failed to get enough electricity to irrigate their crop. The same factors, together with prolonged wet spells, contributed to tobacco farmers failing to meet their target during the past season where a record 482kg of tobacco seed was sold. Enditem