Tobacco farmers smile to the bank: BAT offers a ready and steady market to its contracted farmers

Hoima, Uganda (The Observer) There is something deeply enviable about David Mugisha when he talks about his benefits from growing tobacco. Not many small-scale farmers can boast of owning 30 acres of land, three permanent houses, 28 heads of cattle and children attending the best boarding schools where he pays up to Shs 600,000 per term for each.
For 38-year-old Mugisha, all this has been made possible by growing tobacco, a crop that attracts mixed reactions from farmers, environmentalists and some religions.Approaching Mugisha’s farm in the remote enclave of Nyakabale village, Kitooba sub-county, Hoima district (about an hour’s drive from Hoima town), a shrub shielding a narrow path off a murram road welcomes you. Continued