Report: Tobacco overtakes cotton in export earnings
Tanzania exported tobacco worth Sh239 billion ($184.07 million) between September 2008 and October 2009. 5.8
per cent and cloves three per cent.
The government is encouraging farmers to increase output from 58,702 tonnes in 2008/9 to 60,000 tonnes in 2009/10.
Main tobacco buyers and exporters include the Tanzania Leaf Tobacco Company, Alliance One and Premium Active Tanzania
The crop earnings have outstripped those of cotton.
The country earned $504.3 million from exporting tobacco, coffee, cotton, cashew nuts, tea and cloves during the period.
Tobacco accounted for 36.5 per cent of traditional exports, the Bank of Tanzania�s economic review for November 2009 showed.
But the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that tobacco use causes 5.4 million deaths around the world each year, mainly from cancer and heart diseases.
It warns that the number of deaths will rise to 8 million annually by 2030 unless urgent action is taken.
Overall, about four per cent of Africans are smokers.
But the rate is much higher in some countries. At least 20 per cent of men use tobacco in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Gambia, Kenya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, S�o Tom� and Pr�ncipe, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, according to WHO data.
Women in Africa smoke less than men, but female smoking already exceeds eight per cent in Burkina Faso, Comoros, Namibia, S�o Tom� and Pr�ncipe and South Africa.
Smoking costs the UK�s National Health Service five times as much as previously thought, Oxford University researchers have calculated.
Reports show that Tanzania collected Sh340 billion in taxes from tobacco in the last five years.
It garnered Sh52 billion in 2003/4 and Sh90 billion in 2007/8.
�During the year ending October 2009, the value of traditional exports increased by 31.8 per cent to $504.3 million from the level recorded during the corresponding period in 2008, largely due to a rise in export volumes of coffee, tobacco and cloves,� read the BoT review.
In its November 2008 review covering September 2007 and October 2008, tobacco was in the second position and accounted for 18 per cent of traditional exports worth $375.1 million.
But in the year ending October 2009, cotton accounted for 21.4 per cent of traditional exports, followed by coffee at 23.2 per cent, cashew nuts at10.2 per cent, tea at 5.8 per cent and cloves three per cent.
The government is encouraging farmers to increase output from 58,702 tonnes in 2008/9 to 60,000 tonnes in 2009/10.
Main tobacco buyers and exporters include the Tanzania Leaf Tobacco Company, Alliance One and Premium Active Tanzania.
Source – the Citizen