Uganda: BATU Assures Farmers On Crop Production

Source from:  The Monitor (Kampala) December 27, 2006 12/31/2006

A WEEK after structural and personnel changes, the management of British American Tobacco Uganda (BATU) has assured farmers that every thing is in order. The acting leaf operations manager for northern Uganda, Sam Mugenyi said operations of the company would proceed as planned despite the exit of over forty field staff from the tobacco heart land of Arua. Batu announced major internal reforms and post mergers, which saw at least 134 senior company officials made redundant or sacked last week. This followed three years of staggering losses that angered board members and unrewarded shareholders. "Our esteemed farmers should know that our operations are running as planned during this transition. We have already deployed field staff and there should be no worry," Mr Mugenyi said. The assurance comes at a time of widespread panic among the farmers in West Nile. It emerged that the leadership of the company in the region had been swept clean just as the growers went into preparing their nursery beds for the forthcoming crop year. "Batu is around as it has been since 1927. The changes are internal and they will not affect our operations. Farmers start nursery beds since we have increased prices for tobacco this season," Mr Mugenyi said. Enditem