Winter Crop Status for Tobacco?

Source from:  Staff Reporter  06/11/2004

TOBACCO industry players last week appealed to the government to categorise the golden leaf as a winter crop to enable them to access funding under the state-assisted winter cropping programme. Zimbabwe Farmers' Development Trust chief executive Lovegot Tendengu said tobacco farmers were being marginalised in the disbursement of funds for winter wheat despite the fact that preparations for tobacco cropping begin during the winter season. Preparations for the next tobacco season are now in full swing, with farmers now expected to be fumigating their seedbeds. Ever since the government launched its loan scheme to new farmers through the Agricultural Development Bank last year, about $150 billion has been disbursed so far mainly for maize and other grains such as sorghum. "We need the government to prioritise tobacco when availing inputs and funding for winter crops as it does to wheat because a slack in beginning the season also affects output," Tendengu said. "We are communicating with government officials at a high level on the matter and we have been tasked to submit a strategic turnaround proposal for the industry. We are currently polishing the draft," he added. The tobacco industry is the single largest employer in the country with over 50 000 farmers, both old and new. However, output in the sector has been nosediving over the past four years owing largely to the government's unplanned land reform that displaced 90 percent of white commercial farmers, who contributed much to the country's agricultural sector. This year's output is expected to go down by about 32 percent from last year's 82 million kilogrammes. Players in the industry have attributed the slump to the lack of funding and the shortage of equipment. This year, the auction floors opened a week earlier in a bid to lure farmers to surrender their crop. The government in its quest to solve the funding problem introduced the contract-farming concept where tobacco merchants sponsor farmers, but the concept has not been very successful due to the shortage of foreign currency. Tendengu said farmers were now also agitating for direct marketing where a company which gives more funding towards crop production can purchase from the farmer directly. More than 5.2 million kgs of the golden leaf have gone through the hammer to date since the auction floors opened on April 16. Enditem