(ZIMPAPERS) Tobacco growing drives economy

Tobacco growing drives economy
Saturday, 08 October 2011 23:14 Agriculture
by Diana Muringisi

TOBACCO contributes immensely to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) through exports and employment creation and it also plays a big role in improving Zimbabwean people’s livelihoods.

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made said the financial sector should assist this pivotal segment of the economy. In a speech read on his behalf by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr Ngoni Masoka, at the 2011 Tobacco Sales Floor Tobacco Growers’ Awards, the minister said the occasion was to celebrate excellence in tobacco production and marketing.

“The tobacco industry is a major employer starting from production, processing and marketing and plays a big role on people’s livelihoods in Zimbabwe,” he said.

“It is therefore important to celebrate excellence in tobacco production and marketing to mark the end of yet another successful marketing season.”

The minister called for the resolution of all inconveniences currently dogging the marketing of the crop.

He highlighted congestion as one of the major challenges which should be resolved by decentralising some of the services offered to farmers by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) and the auction houses.

“Services such as the ones offered by auction houses and the TIMB should be carried out closer to the farming communities. The entry of many new farmers to the production of the crop has only compounded these challenges. There is therefore a strong need to resolve these challenges to avoid discouraging the efforts of the numerous A1 and A2 resettled farmers who are trying to make a living through the growing of the crop and contribute to the national income. I am glad that the TIMB and TSF have now established regional offices to achieve precisely this objective,” he noted.

Dr Made called for consistent pricing throughout the selling season, to avoid the congestion associated with the beginning of the season, as farmers rush to beat the mid-season price crash, which characterised the past two selling seasons.

“Government would like to implore the tobacco merchants to be consistent with pricing throughout the selling season, so as to avoid congestion that tends to be associated with the start of the tobacco-selling season,” he said.

He went on to call upon the banking sector to extend loan facilities to tobacco growers so as to facilitate means within which an increase of production can be fostered.

“Government is fully aware of the challenges being experienced in the tobacco sector, ranging from funding of production, adequate knowledge of growing the crop, price distortions and farmer inconveniences associated with the marketing of tobacco,” he said.

“Beneficiaries of such assistance should repay loans to establish a sound working relationship with the banking institutions.”

Agriculture contributed 33,9 percent, while mining contributed 47 percent to the economic growth last year. Minister Made congratulated the Tobacco Sales Floor (TSF) for re-introducing the Tobacco Grower of the Year Competition.

This promotion, the minister said, will go a long way in assisting newly resettled and budding tobacco farmers to realise more from their efforts.

Prices for the winners included two tractors, a grinding mill, two big generators and an assortment of general agriculture as well as tobacco handling and curing equipment and inputs.

Dr Made said the prizes were appropriate inputs, tools and equipment which are going to enhance productivity and overall income-earning capacity of the beneficiaries.

Dr Made said he looked forward to a bigger and better competition in years to come and that other players in the tobacco industry were going to close ranks with TSF to achieve this objective.

Senior advisor to the Reserve Bank Governor Dr Munyaradzi Kereke won this year’s Tobacco Grower of the Year award in the commercial sector.-The Sunday Mail