Chief Executive Officer of TIMB, Andrew Matibiri, said most farmers had started harvesting their tobacco, which they started growing using irrigation before the rains began.
“We will start selling the tobacco in February because some farmers have already harvested. We are looking forward to a better tobacco yield as compared to last year,” he said.
Over 64,000 tobacco farmers registered to grow tobacco in the 2012/2013 farming season compared to only 34,000 in 2011/2012. Due to good rains, the yield is expected to increase by 18% – an increase from 142 million kg last year to about 170 million kg.