Call for tobacco sustainable farming to mitigate climate change

Conrad Mupesa Mashonaland West Bureau

TOBACCO farmers should embrace sustainable farming and curing as a way of addressing climate change challenges emanating from deforestation.

The call was made this morning during the Research Council of Zimbabwe (RCZ) and Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) preliminary workshop for the “In pursuit of energy efficiency: development and evaluation of a low cost, energy-efficient barn for tobacco curing” project in Chinhoyi.

RCZ board chairperson Professor Zororo Muranda and ZERA chief executive Mr Eddington Mazambani lamented the effects of high levels of deforestation causing unpredictable weather patterns among other challenges.

The low-cost barn was researched for three years by Engineer Wilson Munanga.

It is expected to reduce the firewood used for curing tobacco in ordinary barns by one-third.