adminHe could not be drawn into revealing the value of the mop-up sale as he did not have the figures off-hand.
“The clean-up sales that were conducted on Wednesday have closed and with no extension of the mop-up sales because all the farmers sold their crop to all the four auction floors,” said Dr Matibiri in a telephone interview from Harare yesterday.
“Over 2 000 bales were sold but it is unfortunate that I do not have the value of the sales.”
Dr Matibiri said the ongoing tobacco growers’ registration exercise would continue until 31 October.
He urged farmers to register with TIMB so that they grow tobacco in the 2012/13 farming season. “The deadline for tobacco growers’ registration is 31 October and we urge farmers to register before the deadline.”
So far, more than 42 000 growers have registered with the board for the next cropping season while seed uptake as of Friday last week was 730 kilogrammes. In the last farming season more than 65 000 growers registered to grow tobacco.
“As of Friday last week, our statistics showed that the seed uptake was at 730 kg showing a 14 percent increase during the same period in 2011. With the current seed uptake, the farmers can cover up to 122 000 hactares of planted tobacco.”
He said farmers should ensure that the crop’s stalks from the previous cropping season were destroyed before the next farming season commences.
“The destruction of tobacco stalks from the previous crop commenced on 15 May. However, we continue to see the stalks in most of the farms. We are urging the farmers to ensure they destroy the stalks well ahead of the next farming season to avoid disease carry-over into the next season. The stalks harbour pests that will compromise the quality of the crop,” he said.
This year’s marketing season ended on 27 July with more than 140 million kg of the golden leaf valued at $524 million having been sold.
Government had this year targeted that 150 million kg would be delivered at the auction floors.
However, stakeholders in the sector said the target could not be achieved due to the erratic rainfall pattern the country experienced during the farming season.
Despite failure to reach the targeted tobacco output figure, the crop still remains one of the country’s major agricultural exports accounting for 10,7 percent of the Gross Domestic in the half year to June.
Online Reporter