A foreign company invests Tsh. 75 billion in tobacco exports in Tanzania

A foreign company by the name Alliance One Tobacco Tanzania Ltd (AOTTL) dealing with the tobacco exports in the country since 2005, has invested a total of US$ 50 million (about Tsh. 75 billions) in tobacco exports in the country, thus becoming the leading tobacco exporter. It has been learnt. The company's Managing Director Mark Marson said last week in Dar es Salaam during his meeting with editors when briefing his company's successes and challenges for last year's trading period. He said the success of his company has been attained as a result of such a heavy investment which the company has incurred since it started operation in the country in 2005. Initially the company had invested about US$ 40 million which was used for processing plant, making its factory one of the best in Africa. In 2011, the company added new investments of US$10 million bringing the total value of investment by AOTTL in Tanzania to date to approximately US$ 50million. However, he could not disclose the profit his company has earned since then. “We acknowledge and appreciate that the investment environment is conducive, and that the TIC (Tanzanian Investment Center) played an important role in helping us with our investment”, he said adding that, AOTTL has continued to invest each year directly in infrastructure at the factory, and in the field.

On Corporate Social Responsibility Program (CSRP), which includes community and farmer based activities the company has been engaged with by providing assistances to tobacco farmers in various tobacco growing regions in the country. The company has also been engaging in training program on the oxen project. According to him, AOTTL operates Oxen training centers in tobacco growing regions of Tanzania namely Tabora, Urambo, Kahama and Mpanda. The aim of the project is to improve tobacco cultivation by providing farmers with trained pair of oxen and implements e.g. plough, ox carts, ridgers etc. Farmers pay for the oxen through loans sourced from commercial Banks. By the end of 2011 2,930 pairs had been trained and more than 2,290 families were supplied with trained oxen. One pair of oxen together with implements costs Tshs 1.9 million. AOTTL in collaboration with other stakeholders operate a reforestation program through the Association of Tanzania Tobacco Traders (ATTT) whereby farmers are supplied with tree seedlings for planting at a subsidized rate. For the last 8 years from 2004 to 2012 a total of 69,209,000 tree seedlings were supplied to tobacco farmers. The industry policy is for the farmer to 2012 a total of 69,209,000 tree seedlings were supplied to tobacco farmers. The industry policy is for the farmer to plant 50 tree seedlings. The aim of the project is to improve tobacco cultivation by providing farmers with trained pair of oxen and implements e.g. plough, ox carts, ridgers etc. The total number of farmers who sell tobacco to Alliance One is estimated at about 30,000. AOTTL employs 300 permanent employees and about 2,500 seasonal during peak season. Tobacco growing in Tanzania is mainly done by about 100,000 small holder farmers who grow an average of a hector per family. AOTTL is in the final stages of completing construction of a water dam which will be used to store water for use during the dry season when the major water source of Ngerengere River is almost dry. The dam has an area of 13,000 square meters and a storage capacity of 35 million liters which is enough to run 4 months of processing. Alliance One Tobacco Tanzania Ltd (AOTTL) is a subsidiary company of Alliance One International (AOI) of the USA, with its headquarters in North Carolina. It is one of the three tobacco buying companies in Tanzania. AOTTL has its headquarters in Morogoro municipality at Kingolwira. AOTTL is involved with Tobacco buying, processing, and selling to local and international cigarette manufacturers. It buys over 45 million Kgs of Tobacco from more than 160 contracted Farmers Cooperative Primary Societies.