The government has set up a USD 20 million (EUR 16.7 million) loan facility to finance tobacco production by small-scale growers who sell their crop at auction, The Herald said.

Assisting small-scale farmers also would prop up the country’s auction floors, which have been losing business to contract growers, the newspaper reported, citing remarks by Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Meade. This year only 31.1 million kg was sold at auction compared with contract sales of 157.1 million kg.