The booming agri-business has opened doors to 90,000 small-holder farmers out of the 103,000 recorded in the 2013/14 farming season, according to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board.
Ministry of Agriculture provincial official Daniel Nzarayebani said most of the small-holder farmers were not adhering to the regulated chemicals.
“Most tobacco farmers are defying government directives and continuing to use banned chemicals in the production of their (tobacco) crop. Some of the chemicals affect soil productivity others affect anything that devours the treated insects,” he said. Small-holder farmers remain defiant as they do not have the financial support to purchase the approved chemicals, which are expensive.
Nzarayebani said the farmers were taking advantage of the lack of enforcement of the laws. Banned chemicals have a negative effect as they destroy the soil fertility and kill not only insects but birds or anything that devours the crop.
Higher risk
Tobacco treated with the banned chemicals poses a higher risk of cancer to smokers. Agricultural chemicals are classified as Red, Green and Purple label chemicals.
“Only the green ones are allowed because they are environmentally friendly while the other two are not. But owing to financial challenges associated with tobacco farming, particularly small-holder farmers tend to use outlawed chemicals at the expense of the environment,” he said.
International studies have revealed that no matter where tobacco farmers work, they experience illness through exposure to pesticides, which cause neurological damage and nicotine, which results in green tobacco sickness. A tobacco expert, Cephas Mukandi, said there was a growing fear in the tobacco sector of the long-term effects of exposure to toxic chemicals and green tobacco leaves by farmers and their workers.
Highly toxic
“Chemicals used in tobacco are highly toxic, mostly in the purple label, and inexperienced new tobacco farmers are using them without proper protection. The farmers might not experience health problems now as some of the health problems will only manifest in the long run, even 10 years from now,” Mukandi said.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union interim chairperson Christopher Zinhara said there was need for the establishment and implementation of a code of conduct for the production of agricultural products.
“We also want to establish and implement a code of production standards, which we will call Zimbabwe Good Agricultural Practice, enforceable by law to protect the environment and guarantee consumer safety.
“This is a critical element. Some of the chemicals used require 30 days before you harvest so that they can be safe to be eaten by anyone. So we need a system that follows up on chemical and fertiliser use to ensure that regulations are being observed,” said Zinhara.
Post published in: Agriculture