admin
Agriculture Reporter
Government has been urged to create a fund for emerging business people that want to venture into value addition of tobacco. Speaking at the official closing of the 2013 tobacco marketing season and opening of the national tobacco workshop, TIMB chairperson Mrs Monica Chinamasa said it was critical to encourage value addition of tobacco as the country was losing huge sums of money by exporting the crop in its raw form.
“We are celebrating the increase in tobacco production in our country. It should be realised that Zimbabwe is losing substantial amounts of money by continuing to trade in raw leaf,” she said.
Mrs Chinamasa said emphasis should be put on linking the growth of tobacco production to the enhancement of capacity of cigarette manufacturing locally.
“Is it not wise for Government which played a key role in creating room for new growers to come up with credit guarantee schemes that ensure that budding entrepreneurs begin exploring opportunities in the value addition process?
“Shouldn’t we begin looking at the vast range of fiscal incentives to ensure that tobacco manufacturers expand their capacity to begin beneficiation” she said.
Mrs Chinamasa raised concern over the continued cutting down of trees by tobacco growers and said renewable energy sources such as solar and coal should be promoted.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made said 83 percent of growers who are either A1 resettled or communal area farmers account for 53 percent of national tobacco production but use firewood to cure their tobacco.
“The threat of increased deforestation is the major threat to the tobacco industry. I am happy that the industry has made a start by establishing a sustainable afforestation association to lead stakeholders in planting trees,” he said.
Dr Made encouraged the stakeholders involved the afforestation programme to expedite the promotion of the use of other energy sources such as solar, coal, solar and biogas.
He also bemoaned the issue of low cotton prices which he said resulted in cotton production falling by 48 percent.
“Cotton production is very important in that we get lint, edible oil and cake for livestock feed production. We should not leave the cotton sector to collapse.
“Cabinet has directed that there should be an arrangement that protects the interests of both farmers and contractors to ensure an improvement in the cotton sector,” he said.
The tobacco closing ceremony and the opening of the 2013 national tobacco workshop was held under the theme “Sustainable Growth with Quality”.
The workshop was attended by tobacco farmers, buyers, auction floor operators, Agritex officials, farmers unions and tobacco research specialists among other officials.
Online Reporter