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Herald Reporter
A local tobacco company, Voedsel Group has invested over US$20 million in a processing plant in Beatrice in line with the Government’s policy of value addition.
The plant which is expected to be commissioned in December or January next year will be the fourth such plant in the country.
Speaking in an interview following a tour of the plant, Voedsel Group chief executive officer, Mr Innocent Mahufe said the plant will benefit small-scale tobacco farmers.
“We are building a 14-tonne-per-hour tobacco processing plant which will be commissioned around December or January.
“This is a US$20 million investment and in terms of contribution to the economy, I think all the indigenous tobacco merchant companies who do not have a chance to process their tobacco from other third-party processing companies will be housed here so it will bring much-desired investment into the economy.
“We have more than 15 000 small-scale farmers under our contract and last year we did 20 million kilogrammes and this year we want to scale up to between 25 million kg to 30 million kg to suit the capacity of this plant.”
He also said they would also construct a solar power station as a backup for electricity supply.
The company currently exports its products to South Africa, Egypt, Dubai and other Middle East countries.
The company’s managing director Mr Tenyson Hwandi said the construction of the plant was in sync with the President’s vision.
“Considering what has been said by President Mnangagwa in his vision that Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo and us as an indigenous company we are doing that.
“We have decided to do the whole value chain from contracting farmers to cigarette making. This will bring more money into the economy,” he said.
Zimbabwe is among the leading tobacco-producing countries in the world and produced a record 294 kg in the 2022-2023 season mostly from small-scale farmers who benefited from the land reform programme.
Online Reporter