TAMA Farmers Trust has said it will continue to engage farmers to ensure that they are following good tobacco farming practices to ensure that there is a reduction in tobacco rejection on the market in the upcoming season.

TAMA Farmers Trust Communication Officer Sam Kalimba said this while commenting on how the association is handling issues of sensitizing farmers on various issues in preparation for the 2021/22 tobacco selling season.

Kalimba said conceded that in the just ended selling season there was indeed a high rejection rate and this was mainly due to the poor quality of crop that was brought to the floors.

In light of this he has TAMA Farmers Trust has already started engaging farmers with relevant information on how to produce a quality leaf that can be presented on the floor without much hassles.

He has hinted that through experts from the TAMA farmers are being engaged to be taught on how to look for resilient tobacco types but also how to grade the crop.

“We are advocating and advising our to grade their tobacco properly but this is secondary.

“The initial thing to do is to prepare the nurseries so that they are perfect from the onset so that they contribute to seedlings that will survive in the field and produce a good crop,” said Kalimba.