supports farmers to maximize their profits.

More uniform and denser bales of tobacco helps farmers save on packing materials and transport costs and achieve better quality and prices. In addition, the environment benefits from reduced carbon emissions during transport.

TLTC

In ConclusionThis improved system also benefits the environment. By reducing transport requirements,

carbon dioxide emissions are also reduced. It also improves rail wagon capacity, which is

vital given the limited rail capacity in Africa in general. The system allows for the immediate

application of an adhesive barcode to each bale, which makes its ownership easily

identifiable for simpler management and traceability at the market centre.

This means that tobacco farmers need to use less hessian fabric to wrap the bale and save about a quarter of their transport costs. Uniform baling also helps farmers achieve better grading of their tobacco, improving their market presentation and potentially higher profits. In conjunction with the new trend of not bundling the dried leaves before baling, the baling project will also lead to a considerable saving of labour at peak working time on the farm.

BALING PRESSES AND BOXES

Baling presses and boxesTobacco is very light, and as a result is a bulky crop to transport. This makes transporting

tobacco bales to the buying stations expensive for farmers. Tanzania Leaf Tobacco Company

(TLTC) has just concluded a three-year programme to provide approximately 600 steel baling

presses and boxes to all its contracted farmers cooperatives. Farmers can now bring their

tobacco to their cooperative for baling before taking it to the market centre for sale.

THESE NEW TOOLS HELP IMPROVE BALE DENSITY BY

25% ON AVE RAGE.