Early deep ploughing now a prerequisite for better yields, tobacco farmers urged

Mashonaland Central province senior agronomist Lazarus Gatawa has urged tobacco farmers  to do early deep ploughing on the land and seedbed sites they intend to plant tobacco in the 2024-25 agricultural season before their fields dry out in order to conserve moisture and make early planting possible.


Gatawa encourages small farmers to deep plough using  ox or tractor drawn plough as part of land preparation.

"Land prepation is now  very crucial like never before as a key mitigatory measure against the climate change induced dry weather impacts, deep ploughing using ox or tractor drawn plough done to a minimum of 30cm deep is recommended in order to conserve capillary moisture, Gatawa said.

 "This will enable farmers to plant as early as 1 October for those without irrigation facilities as it will be possible to use 5 litres of water per station during planting and achieve a high success in survival rates that give a uniform crop. The seedbeds will also have to be sown in early July for non-irrigation, he added.

The key incentive for farmers who will undertake early tillage and planting, will be high tobacco yields of above 3 000kg per hectare and good quality crops as the tobacco will have a longer growing period, unlike those who will be waiting for the unpredictable rainfall dates that may come as late as November or December period 

Gatawa also highlighted that El nińo triggered extreme weather events being experienced mean that tobacco farmers have to restrategise and prepare land early in order to conserve capillary soil moisture. With the prevailing  attractive tobacco prices it is worth for farmers to spend money on this important tobacco production cycle phase of early land preparation. Discing alone will not achieve the required deep ploughing hence farmers should use ox drawn plough with a new share (muromo wegejo mutsva), tractor drawn plough or ripper where possible. 

"This should be done as soon as possible before your lands dry out. Deep ploughing on dry soil will not achieve the desired objective of moisture conservation.

"With the country and southern  africa region experiencing extreme weather events like long drought spells, high temperatures and unpredictable rain patterns as a result of the climate change phenomenon, early land preparation ensures that enough capillary soil moisture is conserved.  Soil samples can then be taken for soil pH testing at reputable laboratories in preparation for the soil amelioration programme where farmers could use Dolomitic Agriculture lime that is applied at least two months prior to planting, liquid Calsap lime or Microcal that can be applied just before or soon after planting," Gatawa  said.

Meanwhile, the  Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) says it will review downwards its tobacco crop predictions for the 2023/24 marketing season, considering the El Niño  climatic phenomenon, among other challenges.

The review also comes at a time when there are significantly fewer farmers registered for this season than there were for the same period last year.

TIMB had projected 260 million kilogrammes of tobacco for this season, but the drop in registration will see this figure being reviewed.