Zambia will this year rake in over 200 billion kwacha (57 million U.S. dollars) from tobacco sales, which is expected to increase to 42,000 tons from last season's 36, 700 tons thanks to favorable rain pattern and improved planting methods, an agriculture official said in Lusaka Thursday.

Speaking at the Tobacco Association of Zambia (TAZ) annual congress, Agriculture Minister Mundia Sikatana said the government would soon open a tobacco processing plant in Luangwa district of Lusaka province due to increased production of the crop in the area.

He has since challenged the Zambian National Farmers' Union ( ZNFU) and TAZ to negotiate with financial institutions on how they can beef up their capital amid the appreciation of kwacha against major convertible currencies.

The Zambian kwacha has gained dramatically over the past year as a result of the debt cancellation by western creditors after the country reached the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) completion point and hike on copper revenue on the back of international hike copper prices.

The minister also said that the government was to connect hydro electricity to commercial tobacco farms countrywide in a bid to further boost tobacco production.

Source: Xinhua