New tobacco climate-smart varieties performing well

Precious Manomano Herald Reporter

The four new tobacco climate-smart varieties that were introduced by Kutsaga this season have performed well with experts encouraging farmers to expand production to all parts of the country including marginal areas.

The new varieties are T78, T79, T80 and T81.

The intention is to expand tobacco growing in areas where the crop is not grown.

The varieties will give the desired yield qualities and are resistant to major tobacco problematic diseases.

Speaking during a Tobacco Field Discussion Day held at Kutsaga recently, The organisation’s acting Chief Executive Officer Dr Dzingai Rukuni said these varieties can also do well in areas that are not marginal adding that the move will ensure that every farmer who wants to grow tobacco is not left behind.

“They are performing very well and they were meant for marginal areas like Matabeleland where the season is somehow short and using mechanisms of drought. If we are expecting a dry season, we can also have these varieties. We are determined to make sure that tobacco production is not affected by any of the environmental factors due to climate change so we continue with our efforts to drive varieties resilient to the ever-changing climate. We have four new varieties and five that we were using five years ago that are still new in the market,” he said.

Kutsaga Head of plant breeder Mr Francis Mukoyi said these varieties can give farmers a decent yield, around 3000kg per hectare in a very dry season.

He also said these new varieties can be grown in high-potential areas, in the medium and slow-growing areas where varietal choices are minimal to farmers.

“Climate-smart resilient varieties were developed for production, traditionally in non-tobacco growing areas and bulk of these areas fall under marginal areas for example Matabeleland North, Lower Gweru, Masvingo and parts of Mashonaland Central.

“With the development of these new varieties, we have seen that tobacco production has expanded to all parts of the country. So as a major advantage, we are saying tobacco production is now an activity that can be done by everyone in the country. No one should be left behind in terms of tobacco production. Growers are now having choices,” he said.