Mozambique Leaf Tobacco (MLT) plans to reduce its tobacco production in the northern province of Niassa in the next agricultural campaign due to additional difficulties in tobacco sales during the Covid-19 pandemic, Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique reported.

Claudio Ferreira, MLT manager for Niassa and Zambezia, told Maputo daily "Noticias" that some countries that are potential markets for Mozambican tobacco have reduced their imports significantly in order to protect the health of their citizens.
Preparations are already underway for the agricultural year 2020-2021, including the distribution of inputs. Ferreira said MLT will work with 36,500 peasant producers, about 4,000 fewer than in 2019-2020. The area under tobacco cultivation will shrink, he added, but did not say by how much, the report said.
This will be a blow to the farmers in Niassa who derive a large part of their income from tobacco growing. The Governor of Niassa Province, Judite Massenguele, said the agricultural directorate in the province has already begun to persuade tobacco farmers to switch to crops such as cotton, soya and sesame.
According to the report, the Niassa government also dreams of setting up a tobacco processing plant in the province, as it believes that this will create jobs. So far, however, no private sector partner seems interested in such a plant, whose viability must be considered doubtful.