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Elita Chikwati Senior Agriculture Reporter
Tobacco farmers have sown a seed bed area enough to cover over 34 400 hectares for the 2017 /18 cropping season, as communal and A1 farmers continue to join the sector due to lucrative prices and an organised marketing system.
This is an increase from the 31 094 hectares that had been sown by farmers during the corresponding period last year. Tobacco growers are concentrating on main land preparation and ridging ahead of transplanting of the irrigated crop starting on September 1.
Other farmers are managing their seedbeds and clipping, while others are hardening the crop in preparation for transplanting.
Statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board show that most farmers still rely on the conventional seed beds than the new float bed tray system for producing their seedlings.
TIMB statistics show that last season, 2,9 million square metres of seed beds were planted under the conventional system, while 46 220 square metres were done using the new technology of the float tray.
For the 2017/ 18 season, 3,1 million square metres have been put under the conventional seed beds, with 58 696 square metres put under the float tray system.
The number of tobacco growers continues to increase each year, with the bulk of the growers coming from the A1 and communal sectors.
For the 2017/ 18 season, 79 017 farmers have registered to grow tobacco compared to the 55 417 who had registered during the same period last year.
Online Reporter