By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –

THE Japan Tobacco International (JTI) has disbursed loans worth US$8.5 million to support 7,000 small-scale tobacco farmers in Eastern and Western provinces.

The farmers are expected to produce a total of 10 million kilogrammes (kg) of tobacco this year as compared to 10.2 million kilogrammes recorded last year.

JTI communications manager Hope Chola said 7,000 farmers were currently being supported under a programme for small-scale tobacco farmers in Eastern and Western provinces and have been issued with input loans of about $8.5 million.

Ms Chola said in an interview that JTI was committed to providing high quality products, hence the engagement of the leaf production extension officers.

“We have operations in Eastern and Western provinces and in each province we work with an average of 3,500 small-scale farmers who we have contracted, we have provided the farming inputs to them and in return they have to sell the tobacco to us,” Ms Chola said.

She said presently the company was the only one sponsoring small-scale farmers in Eastern province.

“In terms of buying, we have JTI, Sun Bridge Tobacco and Pemba Leaf and the two companies that pulled out of the province are Zambia Leaf Tobacco and Alliance One International,” she said.

Ms Chola said JTI holds a market share of about 87 per cent in Eastern Province and in Kaoma it was the third largest tobacco buyer in the district.

“We produce quality tobacco because we do provide extension services to our farmers and we as the company has continued to train our extension officers, we have so far trained 60 extension officers both in Chipata and Kaoma district,” she said.

Ms Chola said JTI would continue to invest and support farmers in order to support the growth of the tobacco industry.

JTI is the international tobacco division of Japan Tobacco, a leading international tobacco manufacturer.

The company has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and sells its brand in 120 countries.