Growers angry as kwacha replaces dollar in Zambian leaf sales

Zambian tobacco will this year be sold in kwacha instead of U.S. dollars, according to a story in The Times of Zambia.

The decision to move to kwacha was made by the government, but the Tobacco Board of Zambia (TBZ) secretary Samson Muyembe, was quoted as saying that the TBZ did not see anything wrong with selling in the local currency.

But some farmers have condemned the move. Chishala Chilufya was quoted as saying farmers would lose out because the exchange rate for local currency keeps fluctuating.

He said the move would discourage farmers from growing tobacco next season. And he accused the TBZ of not providing enough information to farmers about the tobacco-buying changes that had been made.