Mkwawa Leaf Tobacco officially reopens its factory

Africa-Press – Tanzania. Tobacco farmers will have another assured market for their crop after the Morogoro based Mkwawa Leaf Tobacco Company owned by investors Ahmed Huwei reopened its factory to commence crop processing.

In their visit at the factory premises during the weekend, Tanzania Tobacco Board (TTB) directors congratulated the company for officially reopening the factory.

The newly appointed TTB board of directors led by Chairman Victor Mwambalaswa, paid a visit to the factory, which has changed hands from previous owners to local investors who acquired the assets of previous owner, after closure for nearly four years.

Speaking after the completion of the guided tour at the factory, Mwambalaswa said the directors had witnessed that the factory was fully revived and was up and running processing tobacco.

“The country was facing processing capacity deficit, so after the defunct TLTC plant had finally changed hands, the new owners had promised to commence processing; the aim of our visit was to ascertain ourselves on the real situation on the ground,” said Mwambalaswa.

The chairman, who is the former Lupa MP, said the economy of his province in Chunya district in Mbeya region relies heavily on tobacco as the main source of livelihood.

He said the directors were confident with the good work which had been initiated at the factory, saying they were optimistic that it would be permanent and thus restore the already dwindled hopes of tobacco farmers countrywide, as they had to reduce the sizes of their farmland due to lack of reliable market.

“We have learnt that during the 2021/20122 crop season, the company procured seven million tonnes of the crop from various regions in the country and it was the very crop being processed at the factory,” he said.

Speaking in the company of six other board directors out of the total eight, with two of them failing to attend due to other commitments, he said the board was also upbeat about the number of employment opportunities the factory had created in Morogoro municipality, as well as any other related economic benefits that comes alongside it.

Mwambalaswa also urged the management of the factory continue the good work brought about by the investor, saying was in the expectations of the investor to see that the factory’s processing capacity expands and the return on investment is realized in due course.

“We have asked the management to process the crop professionally regardless of the fact that the crop was theirs or it belonged to any other company,” he said.

On his part, TTB Director General, Stanley Mnozya urged tobacco buyers in the country to widen their tobacco farming land and grow more volumes of the crop.

“We were in a serious disaster as regards to the tobacco market, therefore the reopening of this factory is big blessing to this sub sector and the country’s economy at large,” he said.

He thanked President Samia Suluhu Hassan for her personal efforts that enabled the defunct factory to come back to life within the shortest possible time of her tenure of office.

According to Mnozya, the factory had opened doors contributing significantly to the country’s processing facility, no tobacco company would be allowed to export raw crop.

“From now onwards, we will stop issuance of export permits of green tobacco as stipulated by the Tobacco Act, which dictates that all crop grown in the country must be processed within the country prior to export,” He said.

“Because we were facing processing capacity challenges in the country at that time, the government through the sector ministry had to relax the rules of the trade including the issuance of the export permits of the green crop,” he said.

Other TTB directors who were present in the tour include Modester Yamlinga, Richard Sinamtwa, Upendo Mndeme, Hassan Wakasuvi, Said Ntahondi and Onesmo Mahundi.

Those who failed to make it to Morogoro due to other commitments are Happyness Mwangole and Christopher Mwalugenge.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan on August 24th appointed Mwambalaswa to lead TTB, which was followed by Minister of Agriculture Hussen Bashe appointing the above named eight directors.

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