More women registered tobacco farmers

Buhle Nkomo

There is a 57 percent increase in the number of women who sold tobacco this marketing season as compared to the 2016 tobacco marketing season.

At least  11 000 women sold their tobacco this season compared to 7 000 last season.

Ephiphania Chigora (25) a female tobacco grower from Zvimba in Mashonaland West Province said she ventured into tobacco production after she saw how lucrative it had been for her late father-in law.

“My father in-law was a hard working tobacco grower. He inspired me to start growing the crop. I started small and stayed on course. Keeping on track requires a lot of resilience.

“I started off with half a hectare since it was an experiment. Like many experimentations, it did not come out as we would have wanted, nonetheless we drew important lessons from the experience.

With an appetite for growth , Chigora used her experience  in the previous season to improve her farming. 

I tried a hectare. We were encouraged by the prices we attained at the selling floors.

“This is my fifth season and I am proud to say I have managed to buy a Massey Ferguson MF 390 tractor and a car from tobacco production.

“The tractor has become another source of income as it gets hired by neighbors who do not have enough equipment for ploughing.

“From the few years that I have been a tobacco grower, I can confidently say tobacco farming is profitable.

“I have never been formally employed and farming has contributed immensely to the well-being of my family. I have also invested proceeds from tobacco sells in livestock production.

“This season I planted two hectares of tobacco and I am expecting about 9500 kilograms of good quality tobacco.

Chigora expressed concerns over climate change and the associated changing weather patterns as one of the major challenges she is currently seized with faced in her farming venture.

“This season we experienced heavy rains which ended up compromising on the quantity of our crop whilst last season the rains delayed. This means that heavy rains and drought are largely affecting our production.

To avert the challenges associated with poor rainfall, I purchased and installed an irrigation kit to help sustain the tobacco production project.

“I am less and less relying on the rains and am increasing on the irrigated crop.

Another challenge I am seized with is we usually buy coal from Harare, which is quite far. I wish the coal supplies were readily available in small towns and at and growth points

In 2016, 27 percent of registered tobacco farmers were females.

Chigora urged other women to take the leap of faith and try their hand in tobacco production as they can always bank on calendar based TIMB workshops conducted in conjunction with AGRITEX for good agronomic practices as well as TRB trainings held at Kutsaga Research Station.

She said that the knowledge acquired has contributed so much to her good returns and has led to her personal growth as a farmer.

After 45 days of the 2017 tobacco marketing season, farmers had benefitted $370 million dollars compared after the sale of 130million kgs.

The average price on the auction is $2.87, two cents higher than the contract sales average price.

Bale rejection is also three percent lower than after the same period last season.

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 Toll Free Numbers 08006003 / 0731999999 / 0712832804 or WhatsApp 0731999999 or E-mail: info@timb.co.zw