Zimbabwe: Preps for Tobacco Planting Season On

Source from:  The Herald 06/05/2009

Harare - PREPARATIONS for the 2009 tobacco planting season have started with more than 30 000 grammes of flue-cured seed having been sold by the end of May. The seed sales commenced mid-May at the Tobacco Research Board and the Zimbabwe Tobacco Seed Association. Statistics from the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board shows that a total of 35 540 grammes of seed had been sold during the first two weeks. Last season, a total of 473 000 grammes of tobacco seed were sold by the beginning of September. TIMB chief executive, Dr Andrew Matibiri said there would be a slight increase in the seed sales this season as compared to last year. "We expect 65 000 ha to be put under tobacco production this year and farmers should start preparations now if they are to get high quality crop at the end of the season," he said. He said fertilizer purchases were also encouraging. "However some growers are hoping to get assistance on input procurement especially some small scale farmers who had a smaller crop last season. "Last season tobacco seed sales were good but a number of farmers failed to transplant because of the shortage of other resources such as fertilizers, fuel and chemicals. "We hope by the time the farmers go back to the land financial institutions would have developed lines of credit to offer assistance especially to small scale growers whose offer letters can not be used as collateral," he said. This year a gram of tobacco seed is selling for US$5 and this is enough to cover a hectare. A number of stakeholders in the tobacco industry are expecting an increase in tobacco production following an improvement in the payment system and the dollarisation. Meanwhile, the Kutsaga Research Station is conducting free training on the use of float technology in tobacco seedling production. The training includes both technical and evaluation aspects of the float seedling production system. The Government working through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, has undertaken to phase-out the use of Methyl bromide in tobacco seedlings by end of the 2009/10 growing season. This project enables Zimbabwe to fulfill its obligation under the Montreal Protocol, five years before its deadline for methyl bromide phase-out of 2015. This project is being implemented in partnership with the Tobacco Research Board, a quasi government organisation. Enditem