tobacoo |
During this year's
season, more than 3.2 million kilos of tobacco are still in the farmers'
hands because the firms have failed to purchase tobacco that they even
don't know to who they can sell to.
Chunya Tobacco
Cooperative Union (Chutcu) Manager Juma Shinshi said last Friday that
farmers had produced 14.3 million kilos of tobacco this year, but only
11.8 million kilos were bought due to agreements with the firms
purchasing the crop.
He added that this
was contrary to the 2015/16 season during which the farmers signed
agreements to produce 11 million kilos of tobacco that was all bought.
Mr Juma this said
this recently during a tobacco stakeholders' meeting. The meeting, which
took place in Lupa Tingatinga in Chunya District, was also attended by
farmers, buyers and Mbeya Regional Commissioner Amos Makalla.
Mr Shinshi noted
that Premium Active Tanzania (PAT) this year entered into an agreement
to purchase 9.6 million kilos of tobacco and Tanzania Leaf Tobacco-
Chunya (TLTC) signed an agreement to purchase 2.2 million kilos of the
crop due to a highly volatile situation tobacco market.
PAT Manager Longton
Lumambo explained that even their top foreign buyers had stopped
purchasing the crop in the country due to two major reasons, including
the quality of tobacco as a result of the method used to dry it up and
an ongoing campaign that "cigarette smoking is dangerous to your
health," saying this had also reduced the number of cigarette smokers.
A tobacco farmer
from Mafyeko Primary Cooperative Society, Mr Amin Azizi, said tobacco
farmers faced many challenges, including being limited to cultivating
the crop and the government's indicative price not being followed by
buyers, who, instead, bought the crop at lower prices.
Speaking to tobacco
stakeholders during the meeting, Mr Makalla said the government's
campaign against cigarette smoking and its effects had greatly
contributed to the highly volatile tobacco market. "So, what is the fate
of these 3.2 million kilos of tobacco that have no buyers? I call upon
leaders of primary cooperative societies and buyers to sit down together
and discuss what you can do, including looking for other buyers to
purchase the crop," he said.
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