Maravi

(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) Over 50 000 tobacco growers registered

Over 50 000 tobacco growers registered
Saturday, 03 November 2012 17:54
Faith Mhandu

Over 54 000 tobacco growers, almost double last year’s figure, have registered to grow the crop in the 2012-2013 agricul­ture season.

According to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB), growers’ registra­tion increased by about 90 percent this year, an indication that the cash crop is gaining popularity amongst farmers.

“To date about 54 482 growers have regis­tered for the 2012-2013 season com­pared to about 28 808 who had registered same period last year. At least 20 621 new growers have registered.

“Registration has closed although there is still room for late registration. How­ever, late registration attracts a fine of US$10 until December 31 and US$40 from January 1, meaning farmers will pay US$20 and US$50 as penalty,” TIMB said.

Small-scale farmers prove to be driving the sector with over 40 000 registered growers being either A1 or communal farmers.
At least 43 percent of the registered grow­ers are A1 while 39 percent are com­munal farmers.

The remainder is shared among small-scale commercial and A2 farmers with 10 percent and 8 percent respectively.

Mashonaland Central Province has the highest number of growers with 18 340 farm­ers having registered while Mashonaland West saw 15 820 farmers expressing their will to venture into the crop. Close to 1 000 growers have regis­tered to grow Burley tobacco this season with the bulk being small-scale farmers.

TIMB said: “Burley tobacco remains popu­lar among farmers in drier parts of the coun­try and at least 993 farmers have registered to grow the crop this season.”

Of the nearly 30 000 farmers that grew the crop last year, about 142 million kg of tobacco was produced, raking in about US$189 million for the country.

Labels: NEW FARMERS, TIMB, TOBACCO

posted by MrK @ 9:44 PM