Leaf marketing delayed

Zimbabwe’s flue-cured tobacco marketing season will be delayed this year because the late arrival of rain held up planting, according to The Zimbabwe Daily quoting the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chief executive Dr. Andrew Matibiri.

The dry spell, which most parts of the country experienced, saw many farmers planting several weeks after they normally would, Matibiri said.

The normal tobacco planting time is between September 1 and December 31.

Last year, the marketing season began in mid-February.

Wonder Chabikwa, the Federation of Farmers’ Union president, said the crop situation had improved since rain started to fall in early January.

“We had half a month delay but today it is a good story,” Chabikwa said, before adding that farmers with early crops were already reaping and curing.

“If the situation remains as it is, we expect to have a very good season,” he said.

Meanwhile, Matibiri said that a $70 million tobacco scheme for small-scale farmers had been negatively affected by a lack of foreign currency to procure essential inputs.

“The program was delayed because of price increases,” he said. “We were targeting to distribute inputs to 51,000 farmers but we only managed 11,000.”