Yield 25 million meticais

Producers in the district of Metarica, Niassa province, can expect to earn revenues in the order of 25.2 million meticais (around US$382,440 at current exchange rates) from their latest tobacco crop, processing of which will start in April. The crop comprises about 180 tons of tobacco, of which 42 tons are the better-quality Virginia variety, and purchase guaranteed by the company that promoting the strategic product in Mozambique. Mozambique Leaf Tobacco (MLT) promotes tobacco farming in 16 Niassa province districts, and during in the 2018/19 harvest paid 201 meticais per kilogram for premium-quality tobacco and 120 meticais per kilogram for the Barley variety.

Dário António, director of the District Service for Economic Activities in Metarica, revealed that 367 local producers ploughed and sowed 175 hectares in the current growing season, 146 with Virginia tobacco and the rest with the Barley cultivar.

Currently, curing is taking place in various drying houses and, according to the António, crop quality is better than last year. The regular fall and distribution of rain contributed to this success, as did compliance with rural advisory service and MLT recommendations regarding crop management.

MLT has recently been holding training sessions to update tobacco farmers on procedures, with the aim of reducing losses and improving the quality, and these had in fact increased earnings, António said. Last year, tobacco producers earned around nine million meticais, against the 25.2 million meticais estimated for the current harvest.