Posted on 05/12/2017 9:21:10 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa has once again defended the chaotic land reform programme boasting that black tobacco farmers are now producing more of the golden leaf than the white commercial farmers during the colonial era.
Responding to questions soon after delivering a public lecture on command agriculture at the Midlands State University main campus in Gweru, Mnangagwa said the tobacco production figures justified government's seizure of prime land from the white commercial farmers.
"There used to be a man called Ian Smith who used to rule this country. At the height of production of their tobacco they used to produce 200 million kilogrammes of tobacco," Mngangagwa told the impressionable crowd.
However, he was quick to admit that the land reform programme triggered the collapse of tobacco production.
"When we took the land, taking it back to its rightful owners, tobacco production went down below 50 million kilogrammes," he said.
Mngangagwa said production has since rebounded and they are now producing more than what white commercial farmers used to produce before independence.
"Now we are above 222 million kilogrammes of tobacco a year and this is produced by a bigger number than the whites who were doing it and the cake is now spread to ordinary families in the countryside," Mngangagwa said.
"You can see how the revolutionary party remembers the people".
According to figures released by the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB), in 2014 tobacco farmers produced 216 million kg of the golden leaf with the country realising $684 million from the sales.
In 2015, the figure went down to 198.95 million kg of tobacco earning the country $584 million.
This year, industry experts have projected that tobacco production output will reach around 205 million kg.
Obama must have loaned them his bean counters.
The best action for afrika is for all whites to leave and let the locals play in their ebola infested, islam infected, virgin raping, woman beating culture to self destruct.
Good. Then I hope we are not giving them any aid as they do not need it anymore because they are doing so well.
Okey Dokey!
Sometimes, it’s not necessarily for the best to produce too much. You’ll crash the price.
Complex, I know, but being the grandson of tobacco farmers I understand such things.
but tobacco is bad
and makes people sick
so we must send more foreign aid
to help all the poor sick people
forced into growing
tobacco
by those nasty capitalists
just don’t use tobacco in America,
or grow it
because you’re on your own
and we’ll hate you and hope you die
/s
As a former tobacco smoker(15 years), I can say, what is so great about tobacco. Could they grow peanuts or peaches instead?! Seriously, What is so great about a product that is addictive and causes illness? I would be more amused if the government was working to find a healthy crop for future profits. Pecans?;Cotton?; Orange Trees.?!
Rightful owners?
None of them were owners. The land was sectioned off by British settlers.
No. Neutron bombs. Call me what you will, but it’s better than supporting them now to fight them later.
Isnt blacks farming tobaco racist?
And isnt tobacco evil and poison?
Being liberal means never worrying about your own hypocrisy.
This.
The profit per acre planted in tobacco is still tough to beat, even with widespread attempts to suppress demand.
Secondly, Rhodesia was once known, world wide, as THE BREADBASKET OF AFRICA! They produced wheat, veggies, etc. that quite literally FED AFRICA. Their tobacco production was just a rather small part of what the agricultural powerhouse once used to produce. Once the white farmers were killed off or fled, the land distributed to Mugabe's idiot black cronies and /or those blacks who backed him, all but a very few were starving to death and things haven't improved much.
The majority of blacks, now living there, are NOT native to that land. It was once part of South Africa and populated by Zulus and Boers. Then the Brits came and Ceil Rhodes claimed it as a fiefdom...after the Boer War.
It is also a land loaded with vast mineral wealth and NOBODY there should be starving....but they are.
Well how much more labor are they throwing at tobacco production?
“Black farmers are now producing more tobacco than white farmers did during colonial era.”
Not hard to believe. Aren’t all industrial farmers of today (regardless of color) using tools, fertilizers and harvesting systems that were not available or widely known ‘during the colonial era’?
That was my first reaction. It seems like an unequal comparison.
You’d think that food would be more profitable in Africa. Here in the US, in my memory, tobacco was always between $1 to $2 a pound, usually the lower price. If you are lucky, maybe you can get 800 to 1000 pounds of tobacco per acre. So one acre in the USA might produce $1000 to the farmer before expenses.
I’m sure they know how to rotate their crop to keep from destroying the soil.
I would guess... reason.
Seriously: Profitability - or rather, the maximization of profits.
Regards,
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