Tanzanian Tobacco Growers Advised to Change Farming Technologies

The Tanzanian government has prompted tobacco growers to keep away from proofless claims regarding crop, and instead try to grow the crop more responsibly. Also, tobacco growers in growing countries have been advised to change their farming technologies in order to correspond to those of their counterparts, including the use of modern appliances. “I think that it is time to follow the example of your colleagues in developed countries who grow tobacco using up-to-date technologies. The use of tractors to ease the farming is still small, average growth is between 0.8 and 1.0 hectares per family,” declared Minister for Agriculture and Food Security Prof Jumanne Maghembe in an interview.

He asked stakeholders to control post-harvesting losses as at present farmers lost up 30% of the crop, underlining that the given sector should start from capacity development in barns building as well as raising the processing facilities. “Despite all the benefits to our people and economies of our countries, the tobacco crop, which is under direction of World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC), is facing various critics and there is a strong need for a balance that accounts for the interests of farmers in many countries,” he stated. The sharp statements against tobacco made farmers responsible for the ruthless forest devastation, basing on the assumption that all types of tobacco sorts as for instance burley need usual heat to be cured and that the only fuel used was wood.

“However, experts have estimated that the sector accounted for a 1% of all wood used in developing countries and also for curing particular tobacco sorts as burley that uses sunlight,” the minister said. Tobacco is the only sector that backed conservation of the environment, including elusion of land degradation by implementing a tree planting regulation and statistics demonstrate that since the year 2009-2010 about 20 million trees were planted by tobacco growers. He enumerated various advantages of tobacco in comparison to other additional means of livelihood that it caused as increased price stability with a guaranteed market, therefore helping to ameliorate the quality of life in rural areas.

Addressing at the meeting, Director General of the Tanzania Tobacco Board, (TTB) Frank Urio stated that tobacco was an essential crop for the economy development as it proposed direct employment for over 130,000 families. “Apart from billions of dollars directed to the central government in various taxes paid by the farmers, tobacco buyers and cigarette producers, the crop also greatly benefits local governments in the form of crop cess. For instance, last year crop-cess from tobacco countrywide constituted 14bn,” he said.