Zambia: Kaoma Tobacco Farmers Record Profits

Source from:  The Post 03/15/2016

Kaoma tobacco farmers say they are recording profits during the 2015/2016 farming season, enhanced by Japan Tobacco International Zambia Limited's out-grower scheme.

And JTI Leaf Zambia Ltd forestry supervisor for leaf operations, Monckton Soko, says briefcase buyers who engage in side-marketing of the commodity in the area have posed challenges.

Japan Tobacco International (JTI), the world's third largest tobacco company, established its presence in Zambia in 2010 and buys tobacco leaf from 7,000 small-scale and commercial farmers.

The company procures two types of tobacco namely; burley, grown in Eastern Province and flue cured virginia, grown in Kaoma, Western Province.

Small-scale farmers spoken to in Kaoma said profit margins in tobacco growing have risen as high as K27,000 despite farming on relatively small hectarage.

"Last year, I made K27,800 profit from 1.5 hectare. This year, I am expecting K45,000," Mbuyu Tamboka, a small-scale tobacco farmer based in the Chitwa East area of Northern Leaf, said during inspection of his plot on Friday.

Tamboka told journalists that he used to grow maize but now focuses on tobacco growing given the profitability of the industry, which allowed him to purchase several consumer goods and improve his standard of living. Another tobacco grower, Fridah Nosiku, told journalists that she now felt empowered with the profitability of tobacco growing.

"Last year, it was my first year to grow tobacco; I got K17,500 profits from one hectare. This year, I am expecting to get almost K25,000 or K30,000 as I have got experience," Nosiku narrated. Another tobacco farmer, Namakau Sikamutumwa, who has been farming for 10 years, disclosed that tobacco farming also gave her profit after sales of K12,000, comparably lower owing to a lack of adherence to curing practices that affected the quality and grade of tobacco for onward sale.

And addressing journalists earlier, Soko said the prevalence of briefcase buyers in the district, coupled with the El Ni?o, a term generally referring to prolonged warmer than normal climatic conditions, posed challenges in maintaining high profitability and production. "We also have challenges with side-marketing, we can produce what we anticipate but then there are briefcase buyers who get part of that volume," Soko said.

And when asked how illicit tobacco trade has impacted on sales volumes, he responded: "It has a great impact on our sales, but because of our improved extension methodologies and our approach to the farmers, we have seen a decline compared to when we first started," said Soko.

Meanwhile, the Tobacco Board of Zambia has escalated construction works of the K8 million Tobacco Floor in Choma to bring marketing of the crop closer to farmers in Southern Province. Tobacco Board of Zambia (TBZ) board secretary Samson Muyembe said the tobacco floor would provide easy bargaining for tobacco farmers within the province.

Muyembe told the National Agricultural Information Services that tobacco farmers would sell their crop closer to their doorstep as opposed to transporting its bales to Lusaka for market.

"The Tobacco Board of Zambia saw it fit that the farmers sell their tobacco where the crop is grown, which is the decentralisation of marketing. Farmers were selling their crop in Lusaka, which was a big cost in transportation of the crop," he said.

And Heros Construction Limited chief executive Roy Chisanga Mwamba said his company had completed the first phase of the contractual works, which cost K3 million.

Mwamba explained that the size of the tobacco floor is 600 square metres, consisting of a loading bay, curing bay, and the actual storage space.

He explained that block works around the floor and other external works would be constructed simultaneously in the second phase to expedite the completion process of the tobacco floors.

Meanwhile, Southern Province board chairperson for Southern Tobacco Growers Association Henry Kanyinji praised TBZ for constructing a tobacco floor in Choma. Kanyinji said small-scale farmers used to experience problems transporting small quantities of tobacco to Lusaka which at times got lost during marketing of the crop.

He said that TBZ had cut costs of transporting tobacco to Lusaka by bringing the market of the crop closer to the farmers.

On behalf of other tobacco farmers, prominent tobacco farmer Ben Mahombe called on the contractor to accelerate works to enable farmers sell their crop within the Choma floors during the 2016 marketing season.

Mahombe emphasised that farmers wanted to negotiate for a lucrative price for their tobacco by selling the crop within Choma this season.　Enditem