- LUSAKA, Zambia -- Runaway
white commercial farmers from Zimbabwe who have settled in Zambia have
managed to record an all-time high bumper harvest of tobacco in
Zambia.
-
- According to the Tobacco Association of Zambia's
executive
director, Jewette Masinja, Zambia is set to harvest more than 52 million
kilogrammes of the golden leaf, as compared to last year's national harvest
of 14.3 million kilogrammes.
-
- In an interview with Daily News Online yesterday, Masinja
said Zambia was set to earn US$83 million from the sale of the crop, up
from US$26 million which it earned last year.
-
- This, he said, had been achieved after the country
allowed
distressed tobacco commercial farmers from Zimbabwe to work on large tracts
of land which had been lying idle for years.
-
- "Fresh investments by the Zimbabwean farmers and
the introduction of good agricultural practices by Zambian farmers who
learnt it from their Zimbabwean counterparts has led to the rise in tobacco
production over the past few years," he said.
-
- Zambia's tobacco production has for the past three years
been gradually rising, with this year's crop reaching an all-time high.
Last year's production figure of 14.3 million kilogrammes was a 321 percent
jump from the previous year, according to official data from the Zambian
government.
-
- According to Masinja, nearly half of this year's crop
will be full flavour Virginia tobacco, while the other half will be burley.
Nearly all of it will be exported to Europe.
-
- Distressed Zimbabwean farmers, running away from land
grabs by the government, have significantly improved the agricultural
production
capabilities of a number of countries within the Southern African
Development
Community SADC and beyond.
-
- White farmers have settled well in Malawi, Mozambique
and even Nigeria, where they have managed to prove their expertise in
agricultural
production.
-
- Ironically, Zimbabwe has suffered a decline in the
production
of tobacco, maize and other crops over the same period.
-
- This has been blamed on beneficiaries of the land reform
programme failing to live up to expectations, either because they do not
have the necessary funds and inputs or they are mere speculative holders
of land with no intention of ever using it for farming. Last week President
Robert Mugabe had a go at these "cellphone farmers".
-
- Copyright © 2005 The Daily News. All rights
reserved.
-
- http://allafrica.com/stories/200503090571.html
|