AfricaPress-Tanzania: TANZANIA’S tobacco production is expected to pick up by 43 per cent this season after recording a slump in the last four years, the agriculture ministry has announced.
Mr Hussein Bashe, the Deputy Minister for Agriculture made the revelation in Tabora Region, yesterday while addressing a gathering where President John Magufuli was inaugurating a mega 617-billion water project.
“Tobacco crop has been experiencing challenges in the past four years, but let me today announce the good news that this year, the production is going to increase from 47,000 tonnes to 67,000 tonnes,” he said.
The deputy minister noted some of the measures taken to boost crop production was freely supplying its farmers with seedlings and licensing seven local companies to buy the crop from farmers.
He further said licensing of the companies will see the price of the crop increasing to 1.6 US dollar from 1.4 US dollar per kilogramme this year.
The move to license Tanzanian companies was meant to remove the dominance of foreign companies in the tobacco business in the country.
According to Mr Bashe, the dominance of the foreign companies was a setback to tobacco farmers selling their crops, saying: “For instance, this year the local companies have so far bought tobacco worth 12bn/- from farmers.”
With the good news, Minister in the President’s Office (Investment), Prof Kitila Mkumbo, encouraged the investors to invest in tobacco processing factories in the region.
“In the past investors attributed water shortage to their reluctance to invest in Tabora, but now there is enough water so there should be no reason to continue running away from investing in the region,” Prof Mumbo argued.
Equally, he said the ministry will work hard to ensure investors establish factories in Tabora in order to add value to the crop and get rid of exporting raw tobacco.
In his address while launching the mega water project to benefit 1.2 million residents of Tabora, President Magufuli said currently the region enjoys enabling environment for investment, ranging from water, roads to electricity.
“Nowadays tarmac roads are almost everywhere in Tabora…I ask you (residents) to ensure that these roads and electricity become the catalyst for economic growth,” said the President.
He also told them to exploit investment opportunities in the region, saying: “It’s not only the government’s responsibility to woo investors. Look, Tabora region is geographically well placed to access markets also in the neighboring countries of Uganda, DR Congo, Burundi and Rwanda.”
