Zimbabwe: Masvingo Urged to Try Tobacco

Source from:  The Herald  04/07/2013

Masvingo Governor and Resident Minister Titus Maluleke has urged communal farmers to shift to tobacco production following the success of several pilot tobacco growing projects across the province.
 
Addressing farmers at a field day held at Tokwane-Ngundu in Masvingo South on Wednesday, Governor Maluleke said Government was working hard to revive the province's agricultural sector in the post land reform period.
 
"As Government, we will never rest until our agricultural dreams come true and our major dream is to revive the country's agricultural fortunes so that Zimbabwe regains its previous position as an agricultural giant in the region.
 
"We want our farmers here to shift to tobacco production because it has been proved that the crop can do well here."
 
He said provincial leadership wanted farmers to turn to cash crops to mitigate the effects of perennial droughts that cause perennial food shortages.
 
Governor Maluleke said farmers should not be pre-occupied with maize production yet there were other alternative crops which could produce good yields.
 
Masvingo South legislator Cde Walter Mzembi said the province had more than 28 dams that could be used for irrigation purposes.
 
Cde Mzembi said the economic fortunes of communal and small scale farmers in Masvingo could be transformed overnight by venturing into tobacco production on the back of abundant irrigation water in dams dotted around the province. Enditem