By Derick Tsimba

In a development that should help reduce the infections of COVID-19, Government through the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, and Rural Resettlement has postponed the 2020 tobacco marketing season.

The Harare Post has it on good ground that the Ministry of lands, Agriculture, Water, and Rural Resettlement said it has postponed the tobacco marketing season to allow stakeholders to devise mechanisms to sell the crop in such a way that does not risk the spread of COVID-19.

“The 2020 tobacco marketing season which was scheduled to open yesterday has been postponed to allow stakeholders to devise mechanisms to sell the crop while ensuring minimum risks of spreading the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the Ministry of Lands.

Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, and Rural Resettlement, Vangelis Haritatos said farmers should consider the option of tobacco sales online as a way of curbing the spread of COVID-19.

“Farmers should consider selling tobacco online as a measure to curb the spread of Corona Virus during the 2020 tobacco marketing season,” said the Deputy Minister.

Zimbabwe continues with its fight against COVID-19 and is putting measures to reduce its spread on activities that involve groupings of people. Tobacco farmers should wait and be advised on how they should sell their crop. Tobacco sales are also likely to be decentralised to provinces to allow social distancing to come into effect at the sales floors, the Harare Post has learnt.