Most Farmers Meet Zimbabwe's Tobacco Planting Deadline

Source from:  Malaysian National News Agency (BERNAMA) (my)  10/09/2012

The majority of tobacco farmers with irrigation infrastructure in Zimbabwe have met the Sept 30 deadline to plant the crop, an official says.

Planting of the irrigated crop started in August and the production of tobacco is expected to rise this year because of improved marketing conditions at the auction floors and attractive prices.

Last season, tobacco fetched the highest price of 4.99 USD per kilogramme at the auction floors.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Wonder Chabikwa said here Sunday that only a few farmers were still planting tobacco.

"Most of the farmers are in areas which include Beatrice, Hurungwe in Mashonaland West and some parts of Mashonaland Central province," he said.

More than 70,000 farmers had registered to grow tobacco in the 2012-2013 season compared with 65,221 last year.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe Farmers Union vice-president Berean Mukwende said erratic power supplies remained a major challenge.

"Most farmers have managed to put their crop into the ground and we urge (national power utility) ZESA to spare us on load shedding," he said.

More than 144 million kg of tobacco worth about 526 million USD were sold last year with the contract system contributing the bulk of the deliveries.

Although the country missed a production target of 150 million kg, tobacco farming is slowly rebounding after more than a decade of decline as the country experienced an economic meltdown induced by sanctions which Western powers imposed on Zimbabwe.

China is the biggest buyer of Zimbabwean tobacco including cigarettes, importing a total of 33.8 million kg worth 245 million USD.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and South Africa are also large takers, importing 12.5 million and 12.7 million kg respectively. Enditem