Tanzania: Tabora to Raise Tobacco Output

Source from:  The Citizen (Dar es Salaam) 4 April 2008 04/11/2008

Tobacco production in Tabora is projected to increase slightly this season. The output would have been higher had supervision during production been better and inputs easier to get. Regional commissioner Abeid Mwinyimsa told a tobacco stakeholders' meeting here that tobacco output could record an insignificant 0.3 percent rise to reach 26.188 million kilos during the 2007/8 season, slightly up from 26.109 million kilos produced in 2006/7. He said the projections follow an evaluation conducted in the region recently. "This is a result of poor supervision in the production stages, compounded by other problems facing the tobacco sector in the country in general," said Mr Mwinyimsa. Also cited as a major problem bedeviling tobacco farming in the country is the lack of financial resources by farmers, most of whom are reportedly failing to repay loans, consequently denying them access to new loans for the season. Most small-scale tobacco farmers have in recent years been. Enditem