Tag: Zambia

  • Duty-rise welcomed

    Duty-rise welcomed

    The Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM) has welcomed a rise in duties on unmanufactured tobacco and tobacco refuse, according to a story in the Zambia Daily Mail.

    The association says that the increase, from 15 percent to 25 percent, will encourage value addition to the commodity and support farmers.

    ZAM’s CEO Chipego Zulu commended the government for encouraging the processing of tobacco locally as a move that would benefit tobacco farmers.

    She said the move would encourage also the production of cigarettes and boost the manufacturing industry.

  • Financial support needed

    Financial support needed

    The Tobacco Board of Zambia (TBZ) says a lack of financial support is affecting farmers’ ability to grow tobacco, according to a story in the Zambia Daily Mail.

    Last year, Zambia sold 23 million kg of tobacco, which contributed about three percent to the country’s gross domestic product.

    Teddy Chirwa a tobacco inspector with the TBZ’s Southern Region, said most farmers were unable to grow tobacco because it was labor-intensive and involved a high production cost.

    During an interview at the 91st Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show, Chirwa said improving access to finance could increase farmers’ investment choices and provide them with more effective tools to increase yields.

    Chirwa said there was a need for policies that would support the growth of the tobacco industry in the country.

    He was said to have bemoaned the low tobacco-consumption level in the country, and the fact that currently farmers depend on China, the only export destination.

    Commenting on the theme of this year’s agricultural show, Promoting a green economy, Chirwa said the TBZ would continue to promote a green economy through sustainable agricultural practices in the tobacco value chain.

    The TBZ was encouraging small-scale growers to use efficient irrigation technologies in tobacco production, and was calling for the use of ‘climate-smart and environmentally-friendly agro-chemicals in various productions’.

    “There is need to promote alternative and more efficient tobacco curing methods by embarking on a tree planting exercise in the tobacco value chain to promote a green economy,” Chirwa said.

    “As a country, we also need to strengthen re-afforestation programs and smart agriculture practices for tobacco production to support economic growth,” he said.

  • Zambia resolute on tobacco

    Zambia resolute on tobacco

    Zambia’s Minister of Agriculture Dora Siliya has said that the country is likely to forfeit about US$100 million in export earnings due to a drastic reduction that has occurred in tobacco production, according to a story in the Zambia Daily Mail.

    It wasn’t clear from the story over what period the US$100 million would be forfeited, but the reduction in production was said to have been from 45 million kg in 2013 to 22 million kg in 2017.

    In a speech that was read out on her behalf at the 53rd annual congress of the Tobacco Association of Zambia (TAZ), Siliya said the government remained resolute in its aim to turn the situation around through the promotion and development of policies that would encourage investment in the tobacco sector, which, she added, employed about 450,000 people directly or indirectly country-wide.

    She said tobacco remained one of the key strategic crops whose relevance to Zambia’s social and economic growth could not be overemphasized.

    “If properly harnessed, we can grow our economy and improve the livelihoods of our brothers and sisters whose lives depend on the proceeds from tobacco,” she said. “It is a well-known fact that tobacco farmers also grow food crops such as maize, soya beans and groundnuts using inputs obtained on loans for tobacco growing.”

    Siliya said the government would ensure that the benefits tobacco provided to farmers, value chain stakeholders and the nation at large were not compromised.

    The TAZ president Ant Ford said reduced crop financing and increased farmer debt on the local and international front had contributed to the reduction in tobacco production.

    Meanwhile, British American Tobacco’s security and brand enforcement manager Milupi Nyambe said that about 500 jobs would be created during the construction phase of the US$25 million BAT factory at the Lusaka South Multi Facility Economic Zone.

  • Local grievances in Zambia

    Local grievances in Zambia

    A local cigarette manufacturer in Zambia says the government needs to stop the smuggling of cigarettes into the country so as to promote local industry, according to a story in the Zambia Daily Mail.

    Roland Imperial Tobacco Company’s (RITCO) general manager Aliport Ngoma said the prevalence of smuggled cigarettes on the Zambian market was very high, which meant that local producers were robbed of market share and the government was robbed of revenue.

    Ngoma said that about 15 percent of cigarettes on the Zambian market were smuggled into the country.

    “There is need for all stakeholders, including the Zambia Revenue Authority and Zambia Police, to tackle this matter seriously,” he said.

    “As RITCO, we are ready to co-operate with all stakeholders in curtailing this matter, which poses a great danger to industrial growth and economic growth,” he said.

    Ngoma urged the government also to come up with policies to support Zambian-owned companies “that have to play catch-up with multinationals”.

    RITCO, which is said to have invested more than US$20 million at its facility in Makeni, now plans to invest up to US$80 million and create 2,000 jobs in the Lusaka South Multi-Facility Zone.

    “It is our hope that government will provide incentives for local processing of tobacco and discourage export of Zambian tobacco without value addition, once these facilities become available in Zambia,” he said.

    Meanwhile, Ngoma complained that some chain stores were biased against locally-produced cigarettes. “It is very difficult to get shelf space in these stores, let alone have locally produced cigarettes accepted for sale in these chain stores, for whatever reason,” he said.

  • 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.