Tobacco Production up by 20 Percent

Source from:  By Correspondent Nasser Kigwangallah 07/11/2005

Farmers this year will sell about 48m kilogrammes of flue cured tobacco and 4m kilogrammes of dark fire tobacco worth 48b/-to the Tabora based Association of Tanzania Tobacco Traders (ATTT). Speaking in a telephone interview from Tabora, the ATTT General Manager, Hank Faber said that for this season the price would be 1,000/- per kilogramme, adding that FCV tobacco is mainly produced around Songea in Ruvuma region. ''The production of FCV tobacco is 8m kilogrammes higher than last year, which means that there is a 20 percent increase,'' Faber said. The ATTT GM revealed that in 2003 the tobacco companies bought close to 30m kilogrammes of tobacco. According to him, production of the crop has increased significantly over the last few years. From the 48bn/-, around 29bn/=, that is 60 percent, is expected to be paid out to farmers as cash payment and the other 40 percent will be retained to recover the cost of the inputs given to the farmers as credit for fertilizers and chemicals, Faber observed. He said prices paid to farmers for FCV have increased much over the last few years. Giving an example he said, in 2002 the price was 560/- per kilogramme, in 2003 it rose to 720/- while in 2004 the price was 910/- and this year?s price is 1000/-. ?The substantial increases in price have motivated farmers and that is why we have seen a substantial increase in the number of farmers that want to cultivate tobacco,? he confirmed. He said although there has been no concrete proof on how farmers use the money they receive from tobacco sales, there are examples of farmers that have improved their living conditions greatly due to tobacco farming. The tobacco industry invests heavily in educating the farmers on how to improve the way they grow tobacco using 200 extension staff that are employed in the tobacco growing regions to assist the farmers. As a result of this we see a gradual increase in the yield per hectare and a marked improvement in the quality of the crop. ''The industry has embarked on a reforestation program in order to protect the environment and make tobacco growing sustainable over the long term,'' he said. ''This year 3 million trees have been planted and we expect to reach the target of 5 million trees by next year,? he observed. Enditem