“My husband lost his job as a general hand when the company he worked for in Bulawayo closed down”, said Taipa Ngoshi (45), a female tobacco grower based in Maunga farm in Karoi.
Following this, Ngoshi and her husband went to stay with their in-laws on a farm where her father- in-law was a tobacco farmer .This was the only option available to them.
"My father in-law gave us a portion of land and encouraged us to grow tobacco.
“We
committed to learning good agronomic practices in tobacco production as it was
our only way out” Ngoshi said.
She added that in year 2000 they acquired two hectares of land under the land reform programme. Her husband encouraged her to register as a grower.
“Barely three years later, just
when we thought our lives were beginning to flourish and we were happy as a
family, my husband fell ill. He died after a short illness. Without warning, I became
both the father and mother to our children”, Ngoshi revealed.
She immediately took over the fields and all ensuing processes.
"We had good crop in the field when he died and I was determined to see it through. I made a resolve to fight poverty through hard work. I produced good tobacco at the end of the season”, she explained.
" I am now contracted to Zimbabwe Leaf Tobacco (ZLT) which is a good thing as
the organisation is helpful when it comes to inputs, best practices as well as
recent information with regards to tobacco production.
She said her farming project has enabled her to take care of her children, the welfare of the late brother's children and her parents who are now advanced in age.
Ngoshi says she encountered both the good and ill in her journey but has never shifted her focus from tobacco.
“I usually have challenges when it’s time for harvest especially with reaping. It’s a mammoth task to transport the harvested leaves of tobacco from the fields to the barn. It is an enormous task particularly for us ladies. When my husband was alive it was not as bad as it is now”
Ngoshi
is also considering drip irrigation facility being offered by the Tobacco Industry
and Marketing Board (TIMB) in order to mitigate the impact of climate change.
She urges women to take part in the growing of tobacco in order to increase their
visibility in society and to fend for their families.
Close to three million people in Zimbabwe are directly dependent on tobacco production while the industry directly employs over 350 000 people from the farms to the factories. |
For
additional Information contact
TIMB on telephone numbers 08677004624/6 or 0772145166/9 or 0279-22082/21982 or 025-3439 or 067-24268/29246 or 0277-2700 or 064-7280 or 0271-6772 or
TIMB on telephone numbers 08677004624/6 or 0772145166/9 or 0279-22082/21982 or 025-3439 or 067-24268/29246 or 0277-2700 or 064-7280 or 0271-6772 or
Toll
Free Numbers 08006003 / 0731999999 / 0712832804
or
E-mail: info@timb.co.zw
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