Zimbabwe: Farmers Shift to Tobacco

Source from:  The Herald  03/15/2013

MORE than 11 000 new communal farmers have shifted to tobacco due to favourable prices being offered on the market.
 
So far a total of 24 622 farmers have registered as tobacco growers for the first time with 11 030 of them coming from the communal sector.
 
About 9 570 new tobacco growers are from the A1 sector while 1 354 are from the A2 with small scale commercial farming sector registering 1 070 new growers.
 
The shift to tobacco has been attributed to the attractive prices being offered by tobacco buyers, the orderly marketing and well organised contract system. The other advantage is that tobacco farmers get their money instantly unlike the situation with maize where there are few cash buyers.
 
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made recently said there had been a drop in cotton production by 30 percent as farmers avoided the crop because of the low prices that were offered last season.
 
He said most farmers with good soils had switched to tobacco and soyabeans which have proven to be viable. Enditem