Zambia: JTI Rolls out Green Plan in Kaoma

Source from:  Zambia Daily Mail 03/21/2016

Deep in the verdure forest of Kaoma in Western Province lies a leafy field of tobacco. Some of the leaves are yellowing and ready for picking.

In a nearby shed made of grass and poles, three elderly women are sorting the harvested leaves before hanging them in barns for curing. It's a laborious job, and one that is most critical in the process.

There are four curing barns on this one-hectare farm, which is owned by 36-year-old Fridah Nosiku, and they all require huge amounts of firewood to supply the needed heat to cure the tobacco for seven days.

Inevitably, this process - practised over many years by tobacco farmers in this area - has had a huge negative impact on the forest in the district well known for its timber.

One tobacco company, however, is determined to cut down on deforestation by introducing a new kind of barn called matope to cure the tobacco, which is more efficient, requiring less firewood.

Japan International Tobacco (JTI), which operates in Zambia as JTI Leaf Zambia Limited, is a leading tobacco manufacturer. The company entered the Zambian market in 2011 and has a footprint in Western and Eastern provinces.

In Kaoma, JTI Leaf Zambia Limited grows Virginia tobacco, while in Eastern Province, it promotes burley tobacco.

Ms Nosiku is one of about 3,000 tobacco farmers engaged by JTI Leaf Zambia under its out-grower scheme in Kaoma. The single mother of six started growing tobacco in 2014, adding to the 3,700 hectares under cultivation under the scheme.

Curbing Deforestation

Last year, JTI Leaf Zambia introduced the matope barn on a pilot basis, but is now rolling out the technology after it proved to be more efficient, eco-friendly and effective in curing tobacco.

The tobacco company is currently working with farmers in a study to determine exactly how much firewood the new barn uses compared to the old one. Selected farmers have been given scales to weigh the wood before it is fed into the furnace.

Monckton Soko, who is JTI Leaf Zambia agroforestry supervisor, reckons the traditional barns use up to 25kg of wood to cure a kilogramme of tobacco, while the matope barn uses five kilogramme of wood to cure a kilogramme of the leaf crop.

So far, JTI Leaf Zambia has built 440 matope barns at selected farms across the district. The target is to completely phase out the old barns by 2018.

The company supplies the bricks, cement and chimney to build the barns, while the rest of the material, such as poles, is locally sourced.

Ms Nosiku, who has one matope barn on her farm, is happy with the new technology, which she says is less polluting and cures the tobacco better.

JTI places great emphasis on the quality of tobacco.

"The potential for tobacco in Kaoma is very high, but first we want to make sure that with the farmers that we have, we do it best," says Mr Soko. "We want to first enhance what we have and then expand with caution so that people will have known what to do, because tobacco is not about the hectarage that you grow, it is about the quality."

The company has also improved on its extension service since 2011. Currently, one extension worker serves about 100 farmers, visiting each farmer regularly to monitor their crop to ensure good quality of the harvest.

"Many farmers now know how to grow the tobacco, but it is at the curing stage where they lose it," says Mr Soko.

Last year, Ms Nosiku earned K17,000 from the sale of her tobacco, but expects to earn more this year.

"I have now gained experience. Last year I was growing tobacco for the first time," she says.

Ms Nosiku now plans to increase her hectarage and dreams of buying cattle and a vehicle.

JTI Leaf Zambia also gives farmers inputs to grow one hactare of maize to ensure food security.

Private Forests

And in five years' time, Ms Nosiku will not have to cut down trees in the surrounding forest to cure her tobacco. This is because growing beside her tobacco field are over 400 young exotic trees that she will be able to use as firewood.

The trees are said to yield good firewood and are fast growing.

JTI Leaf Zambia has its own nursery of the trees which it supplies free of charge to the farmers.

Initially, the company used to reward the farmers who were very successful at growing the trees. Many of them no longer need any incentive to grow the trees as they have seen the need to do so.
The plan is for the farmers to have constant supply of firewood from their own small private forests.

According to Mr Soko, the new barn structure goes hand-in-hand with the tree planting project.

He reckons that 500 trees are able to supply the required firewood to cure one hectare of tobacco.

"Our plan is that after five years, the farmers shouldn't be getting wood from the natural forests but use their own," he says.

According to the plan, each farmer is to have five plots of the trees, planted in successive years to ensure a constant supply of firewood each harvest season.
Some farmers, like Namakau Sikamutumwa, have been very successful at growing the trees.

Mrs Sikamutumwa has about 900 trees growing in her backyard, close to her barns. One lush green portion has 450 trees about two metres tall.

In a couple of years from now, Mrs Sikamutumwa will not have to walk long distances to fetch firewood to cure her tobacco.

With such innovations by private companies, there is hope that Kaoma's forests will be saved.

But tobacco growing is not the only driver of deforestation in Kaoma, the district is popular with loggers - both local and foreign - and some are engaged in illegal logging. Enditem