Tanzania: Farmers Get Two Tractors At Low Prices

Source from:  The Citizen 12/03/2009

Tabora - Tanzania Leaf Company (TLTC) has given tobacco farmers Tabora Region's Sikonge district two tractors worth Sh80 million. The recipients of the tractors, which will be used for cultivation and transportation, are members of Mibono and Kimuta primary societies. An official of the company said here last week that the farming equipment will help to boost the productivity of the farmers. Legal and corporate affairs director Richard Sinamtwa said the tractors will replace the hand hoe and oxen the farmers have been using to cultivate land and transport their tobacco produce. The farmers have a contract with TLTC that obliges them to sell tobacco to the company during 2009/10. The arrangement also requires the tobacco trading firm to support the farmers in various ways such as providing the tractors at 40 per cent of their cost. "We are proving these tractors as part of fulfilling our obligations to the farmers and as promised last year Apart from using them to plough their farms, the tractors will greatly reduce the cost of hauling the crop from farms to marketplaces," Mr Sinamtwa noted. He said that Kimuta and Mibono members will now be able to save Sh25 million annually in transportation costs. The tractors have trailers whose capacity is five tonnes. The treasurer and secretary of Mibono Primary Society, Mr Carlos Maganga, said other support provided to the two societies include training farmers on best farming practices. The company has also given them 25 money maker pumps and an extra Sh5 for every kilogramme of tobacco sold during the last buying season. The tractors were handed over to the two societies by Sikonge district commissioner Charles Tizeba will contribute towards attaining the national tobacco output of 100 tonnes by 2010. He said the ongoing reforms in the sector are in line with implementation of the Kilimo Kwanza initiative that seeks to modernise farming in the country. Enditem