Zimbabwe Absurdity

A customer called in earlier this week and amongst other things we discussed the growing of tobacco seedlings. She’d missed growing the crop for this season but was keen to “have a go” next season. So I asked what type of tobacco she wanted to grow, was it burley or virginia? She didn’t know. Well what did it look like? Big leaves. (Not too helpful). Was she going to cure it in a barn or outside. In a barn (so that makes it virginia). How much was she going to grow? 5 ha. Where was she going to grow it? Hwedza (an area that was particularly badly hit by the farm invasions). She asked how much seed she should get. I asked what the variety would be (depends on seed size). She didn’t know that. She asked me where she should get the seed (!) so I told her the Tobacco Research Board would be the place and she should get enough for 2ha (we are more efficient than the traditional seedbed method). I hope she has got the money to “have a go” – it could be an expensive experiment. Anyway, it looks like the future of Zimbabwe’s agriculture is assured with this level of “expertise” around!