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Charity Ruzvidzo Business Reporter
AT least 67,500 farmers have registered for the 2014/15 tobacco cropping season with 13,229 new participants coming on board.
Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chief executive Andrew Matibiri said the coming on board of new participants indicated the growth of the sector.
He said irrigated tobacco planting season began on Monday and the association was compiling records of participants and hectarage.
Matibiri said Mashonaland West Province had the highest number of registered  farmers.

“Mashonaland West has 23,145 farmers who have registered for this year’s 2014/15 irrigated tobacco season. These comprise communal, small-scale communal, A1 farmers and A2 farmers,” he said.

“Matabeleland has so far recorded the lowest number of farmers for this year’s irrigated tobacco planting season. We’ve only three farmers from communal farming, two from A1 and four from A2 and none at all from the small-scale sector.”

He said the largest number of new growers for the season was also drawn from Mashonaland West.
“Mashonaland West has 4,951 new growers, which is currently the highest, followed by Mashonaland Central with 3,700, Manicaland with 2,153, Mashonaland with 2,145, Midlands with 144, Masvingo with 130 and Matabeleland with six new comers,” Matibiri added.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union president Wonder Chabikwa said high production costs were hindering Matabeleland farmers from engaging in tobacco farming.

“All auction floors are in Harare. For a farmer to transport tobacco from Matabeleland to Harare including the production costs, the expenses become very high,” he said.

“Tobacco farming is now more viable as farmers make enough money to cover  their production costs and cater for their families.”
Tobacco prices were pegged  at $3.17 per kilogramme in the just ended marketing season, the second highest in the world among countries that produce the cash crop.

Tobacco is the country’s second largest foreign currency earner after mining with latest figures indicating the country exported about 50,6 million kilogrammes worth $231,5 million.