A 58-year-old “mama” from the Eastern Cape has expressed hope for the future, thanks to the formation of a new organisation aimed at helping black farmers become competitive in the tobacco industry.
The Black Tobacco Farmers Association was officially launched in Pretoria on Thursday. Some 150 black farmers from the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and North West have already joined the organisation.
Balfour tobacco farmer Nomfusi Kotsele, who was at the launch, is the leader of Katala Co-op in the Eastern-Cape, which has a cultivation area of more than 50 hectares.
This year, she is part of a team of four farmers who planted 10ha of tobacco, 30ha of maize, five of sweet potato and five of butternut.
“I have lived on a farm all my life and I was raised by a farmworker.
“Today’s launch of a black tobacco farmers’ association gives me life and fills my heart,” she said.
“But what really brought about positive change was when a group of farmers came to our area to do tobacco trials in 2017. These have been the best two years of our lives as farmers and we have seen an improvement in the livelihoods of not only the farmers, but the farmworkers as well. They are getting paid better and things are starting to look up for everyone.”
All the members of the association have received support from British American Tobacco South Africa (BAT) with Mobile Agri Skills Development and Training, a non-profit entity.
Founder and chairperson of the Black Tobacco Farmers Association, Ntando Sibisi, said black farmers needed to be innovative and competitive.
While tobacco is grown mainly in Mpumalanga, North-West and Limpopo, it is making inroads in the Eastern Cape.
In May last year, a memorandum of understanding was signed between BAT SA and the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) to support emerging farmers.
BAT SA funds training in tobacco production and general mixed crop farming.
It will buy and process the tobacco produced by the farmers. The ECDC will play a facilitating role.
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