Heavy Rains May Deplete Zimbabwe Tobacco Crop, Herald Reports

Source from:  Bloomberg 01/20/2009

Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Unseasonably heavy rains may adversely affect Zimbabwe's tobacco crop, the state-controlled Herald said, citing Ezekia Svotwa, a crop production coordinator at the country's Tobacco Research Board. Heavy rains will likely cause leaching of the sandy soils in which tobacco grows, the Harare-based Herald said on its Web site. Fertilizer, needed to prevent leaching of soil, is in short supply in Zimbabwe, where an estimated 70 million kilograms (154 million pounds) of tobacco was produced last year. Often-violent farm invasions have reduced Zimbabwe's tobacco production from a high of 231 million kilograms in 2000, when the country ranked as the world's third-largest exporter. Enditem