Miller dumps cotton for tobacco

Following the closure of New Mbeya Textiles Mills for lack
of cotton for four years now, the owner is now considering
tobacco processing.
Barkat Ladhani, Director of New Mbeya Textile Mills told
EABW last week that the government has officially notified
them that growing of cotton in Mbeya is banned for at least
between 15 to 20 years to come.
He said that "With such decision we have decided to
diversify, and we decided to opt tobacco processing and the
government is aware of this situation.
Ladhani explained that to get cotton here, the factory had to
ferry it from major cotton producing regions of Mwanza and
Shinyanga, about 1,576 kilometres far away from Mbeya.
The situation has been affected the performance of the
factory in terms of operation costs.
Although Mbeya and neighbouring districts of Chunya
cotton can grow, the Tanzania government banned its
production because of red bollworm pests.He added
The government says the pest, red bollworm can spread
easily and it is difficult to control, thus allowing cotton
farming in Mbeya and Chunya may result into the whole
region being infested by the pest.
Helicoverpa zea, commonly known as the corn earworm, is
a species in the family Noctuidae---its larva is a major
agricultural pest.
Since it feeds on many different plants during the larval
stage, the species has been given many different common
names, including the cotton bollworm and the tomato
fruitworm. It also consumes a wide variety of other crops.
The species is widely distributed across the Americas with
the exception of northern Canada and Alaska. In Africa the
pest is found in Tanzania and Mozambique.
It is resistant to many pesticides and migrates seasonally.
The factory was privatized in late 90s, was closed down in
April, 2011 for lack of cotton, the major raw material.
With an area of 60,000 square metres total factory under
roof and 250 square metres (ground) was the only textile
mills in Southern Tanzania. Its products were mainly yarns,
woven fabrics and printed kitenge.
The cash crop is also being affected by the problem of
pricing. Because the international prices for cotton are
unpredictable, and usually falling, such trend is pushing
some farmers to food crops.