Zimbabwe Farmers Urged to Comply with Planting Dates

Source from:  Manica Post  12/28/2012

CEREAL farmers in Manicaland are taking advantage of the current wet spell to scale up planting operations while tobacco farmers have been urged to wind up their planting operations and focus on tendering, reaping and curing.
 
So far 17000ha of tobacco have been planted against a target of 15 000ha.

In an interview from Harare, Agritex head for Manicaland Mr Godfrey Mamhare urged tobacco farmers to comply with legislated planting dates.

He said the tobacco planting season was over, and attention must be on proper management of the crop, reaping and curing.

He, however, appealed only to cereal farmers to exploit the current wet spell and continue planting.

Manicaland was reportedly lagging behind its planting schedule for cereals with about 60 000 out of a projected 300 000ha of maize having been planted at week ending December 18.

"It is no longer advisable to plant tobacco at this time of the season. Chances of getting the best out of the crop are remote if farmers continue planting beyond this time. That will be a late crop, and chances it will mature are remote. Those farmers who are still planting are gambling, "said the agronomist.
 "The irrigated crop is being reaped while the dry planted one is at the vegetative stage. Farmers with the dry-planted crop must continue weeding, applying fertilizers and chemicals to control weeds and pests," said Mr Mamhare.

"We are still behind in terms of maize planting. Our challenge is that most farmers have abandoned maize for tobacco, but that is not a good move because we must take full responsibility to ensure that we produce enough to feed the nation. We eat maize, not tobacco, and as such farmers must prioritise maize production. If we do not plant enough maize, we will starve as a nation," said Mr Mamhare.
 
Many farmers have turned to tobacco following high returns from the gold leaf fetched last season.

Mr Mamhare also warned tobacco farmers against indiscriminate cutting down of trees in search of fuelwood to cure the leaves.

He said farmers must resort to other sources of fuel like coal, electricity or plantation woodfuel that do not sponsor land degradation and deforestation in their respective communities.

Tobacco farming is synonymous with serious environmental damage amid with reports that thousands of hectares of forest are cut down each year for the cigarette industry.

Substantial amounts of wood are used for fuel in tobacco curing, drying the leaves of the plant.

In some dry climates it is possible to leave the curing to the elements, but in Zimbabwe wood-burning is mostly used.

"We do not want to see a situation where plenty of forests and woodlands are cut down in a scramble for wood to cure the tobacco leaves.

"Farmers must use coal or electricity for their curing purposes, and not indiscriminately cut down indigenous trees. We must conserve our forests and farmers whose barns are designed for woodfuel must buy timber from forestry and spare the indigenous trees," said Mr Mamhare.
 
Tobacco farmers are for preferring indigenous trees like mutondo, mupfuti, musasa and muunze trees, which have become endangered species.
The farmers prefer woodfuel because it is cheap and readily available in their communities without taking cognizance of the ecological consequences of their actions. Enditem