Harare — SMALL-scale tobacco growers may fail to transplant their crop in time due to fertilizer shortages, which could negatively affect this year's targeted hectarage.

About 65 000ha are expected to be put under the crop this season of which 35 percent would be grown by small growers.

The other 65 percent would be catered for under various corporate contract farming schemes.

The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri said delays in transplanting would affect the quality and the output.

"Our biggest worry is on small-scale farmers who are supposed to source inputs on their own," said Dr Matibiri in an interview yesterday.

"There are no inputs on the market. At this point farmers need Compound C when transplanting and the delay will affect the yields.

"But farmers under some contract schemes may rest assured of critical inputs."

He said it is recommended that Compound C be applied on seedbeds before transplanting.

This year, Zimbabwe targets about 65 000ha of tobacco with expected output of 130 million kg.

Historically Zimbabwe has been the world's second largest exporter of tobacco, but began to fall through the ranks 10 years ago as a result of bad weather patterns and to a some extent, lack of expertise among new farmers who benefited under the Government's land reform programme.

In the past, the country accounted for 19 percent of total world exports, behind Brazil. Tobacco has been the country's top foreign exchange earner.