Tobacco growers earn Sh86 billion this season

Morogoro. Over 11,000 growers of tobacco through contract farming arrangement with Alliance One Tobacco Tanzania Limited (AOTTL) have earned a total of Sh86 billion this season alone, the company announced yesterday.

Firm’s managing director Ephraim Mapoore told Morogoro regional commissioner Martin Shigella yesterday that they have so far bought 22 million kilos of tobacco worth Sh86 billion in the ongoing season.

He said for the past five years, the company has been spending Sh26.5 billion on salaries and personal costs every year.

It has also been paying Sh11.6 billion as income tax in the form of pay-as-you-earn (Paye) for its employees each year and another Sh1.718 billion for their contributions to social security funds yearly.

He however noted that the firm’s operations were being affected by unreliable power supply and a lack of water connection from Moruwasa to the factory.

He said they currently depend on their own water wells and a dam.

“AOTTL needs a dedicated power line because currently, the it requires 600 litres of diesel to power its generators a day,” he said.

Mr Shigella, who toured the factory to launch the crop processing season, commended the firm for creating direct and indirect jobs to people in the region.

AOTTL started operating in Tanzania in 1998. He said the Samia Suluhu Hassan administration will effectively work on the two key challenges of electricity and water that becloud the firm’s operations.

“We will also agree with Moruwasa and Tanesco on payment cost and terms,” said Mr Shigella during the event.

He promised to work with the Tanzania Revenue Authority to reach a win-win position in the tax dispute.

“We need to support these factories which are key in ensuring that we increase the capacity of processing the crop from the current capacity of 70,000 million Kilograms to well over 150,000 million Kilograms in line with the mission and vision of the six phase government,” he said .