Tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe are now preparing land to plant their irrigated tobacco crop early next month, reports The Herald.

The majority of the rainfed tobacco crop is planted between October and early December depending on the region where the farmer is located. 1 September is the earliest legal date for transplanting tobacco from the seedbed to the field. In preparation for this date, farmers are expected to have destroyed tobacco stalks and re-growths which are hosts for pests and agents for the carryover of diseases on or before 15 May. “A critical success factor that should be achieved before transplanting tobacco plants is proper land preparation, a process which entails ploughing, disking and ridging,” said Zimbabwe National Farmers’ Union vice president Edward Dune.

The ZFU official expressed concern over the decline in the number of registered tobacco growers for the 2022/2023 season when compared to the previous season. “So far, farmers are busy preparing the land to plant tobacco next season. The major challenge on the ground is that input prices are very high hence the majority of farmers are finding it difficult to continue with tobacco farming,” Dune said. According to the report, he added that the challenges farmers face need to be addressed to encourage them to grow tobacco. Payment methods should be improved so that farmers are not inconvenienced, he further said.