Growers left indebted

Drought and extremely high temperatures have decreased leaf tobacco yields by 30-40 percent in the Semberija and Posavina regions of Bosnia-Herzegovina, according to a Onasa News Agency story relayed by the TMA.

About 104 tobacco farmers belonging to the AD Duvan co-operative this year grew tobacco on 304 ha in the two regions.

But because of the unhelpful weather, they are thought to have produced 350,000 kg of tobacco this year; not the 500,000 kg that had been predicted earlier in the season.

AD Duvan director Čedo Gotovčević said tobacco farmers would be left in debt due to the poor yields and low purchase prices.

But there had been an increase in black market trade, Gotovčević added, with about 60 percent of tobacco producers ‘turning to illegal flows’, where purchase prices were high.