Tobacco farmers to lose as sponsor scales down operations

NAIROBI: Global raw tobacco merchant, Alliance One International, has announced plans to scale down its operations in Kenya, a move expected to hit farmers hard.

Alliance One Tobacco (Kenya) Limited is a subsidiary of Alliance One International, with its corporate head office in Morrisville, North Carolina, USA. Alliance One International’s first purchases of Kenyan tobacco were in 1983 and the company has had a legal presence in the country since 1990. Its core operations involve sponsoring farmers to produce tobacco mainly in Migori County, processing and exporting to the international market.