Watching the weather

If weather conditions are normal this year, Indonesia should be able to produce up to 200,000 tons of tobacco, according to a story in Indonesia Investments.
The planting season is due to start in May provided the rainy season ends in April or early May.
Last year, the country is estimated to have produced 160,000 tons of tobacco, 129 percent more than the previous year’s production of 70,000 tons, which was hit by unusually wet weather during what is normally the dry season.
Meanwhile, Budidoyo Siswoyo, chairman of the Indonesian Tobacco Community Alliance (AMTI), has urged the government to encourage partnerships between local tobacco farmers and the cigarette industry.
Such partnerships would impact positively on the quality and quantity of the tobacco produced, and enhance the welfare of farmers, Siswoyo said.
One of the problems in the tobacco industry was that there existed a long line of middlemen between the cigarette industry and the small farmer, who wound up being paid low prices.