Tobacco Buying Licence Tanzania: Tobacco Board Licences, AMCOS Contracts and Farmer Payments

This guide covers the tobacco buying licence in Tanzania: the Act and fee regulations, Board registration, contract farming through AMCOS, payment rules, cess, foreign ownership, exports, Zanzibar and a worked example in dollars and shillings.

What changed: the October 2026 payment directive

On 3 October 2026 the Minister for Agriculture, Daniel Chongolo, met tobacco stakeholders in Tabora. Farmers, AMCOS, buyers and the Tanzania Tobacco Board attended. According to the Daily News report of 4 October 2026, he ordered buying companies to clear all outstanding payments to farmers by 30 October 2026.

The same report says stakeholders were told to hold input-price talks within 10 days and to distribute fertiliser within two weeks. The Board's Tabora Zone acting manager, Albert Charles, said the number of buyers rose from three in 2020/21 to 18 today.

Two other outlets carry the same facts. Michuzi Blog reported the meeting on 3 October 2026 in Kiswahili, and Tobacco Reporter covered it on 5 October 2026.

A follow-up Daily News story of 8 October 2026 adds two details. The Board put unpaid farmer money at USD 600,000 on 30 September 2026, about 4 percent of payments due. Local companies with debts had been told to pay by 15 October 2026.

Status of the directive. At 13 October 2026 we found no written notice of it on the Ministry of Agriculture press page or the Tobacco Board news page. The deadlines below are therefore attributed to press reports. The rest of this guide is the standing law, which applies whatever the directive's final form.

What the law says about tobacco trading

Four instruments govern a tobacco buyer on the Mainland.

• The Tobacco Industry Act, Cap. 202. It was enacted as Act No. 24 of 2001 and commenced on 1 July 2002. The text on TanzLII is the 2002 version. It notes a 2009 amendment not yet applied, which is the Crops Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, No. 20 of 2009. That Act reworked crop board financing and contract farming, as the FAO Ecolex record summarises.
• The licensing fee regulations. The Tobacco Industry Licensing (Fees) Regulations, GN 71 of 2016 apply to tobacco bought, processed, exported or imported in Mainland Tanzania. The Schedule was substituted by GN 100 of 2022 and amended by GN 98 of 2023.
• The Tobacco Regulations. The Act refers to regulations on growing, classification and marketing. TanzLII lists further notices under the Act, but their full texts did not load for this review.
• The Local Government Finances Act, Cap. 290. It lets district councils charge produce cess. The Act on TanzLII caps crop cess in its Schedule.

Section 5(2) gives the Board power to register growers, sellers and processors, license buyers and processors, and grant export and import licences. Section 14(4) makes it an offence to buy, market or process tobacco without a Board licence.

The section numbers here come from the TanzLII 2002 text. Confirm them against the Revised Edition before quoting them in a filing. Our overview of the crop boards shows how tobacco sits beside coffee, cashew, cotton and tea.

Who is affected

• Leaf buyers, local or foreign-owned, contracting growers through AMCOS;
• Processors running threshing and processing factories;
• Dry leaf traders buying and selling processed tobacco locally;
• Exporters and importers of green or processed leaf;
• AMCOS and cooperative unions that register growers, run market centres and collect payments;
• Lenders and input suppliers financing tobacco crops; and
• District councils collecting cess in tobacco districts.

The scale is large. The Board's final 2024/25 production report records 185.8 million kilograms sold for USD 475.5 million, from 112,982 registered farmers. Flue-cured Virginia was almost all of it, at an average USD 2.56 a kilogram. Kaliua, Chunya, Tabora, Urambo, Kahama and Mpanda were the largest areas.

Which licences does the Tobacco Board issue?

The Board's licensing and permits page lists eight licences and permits. Fees come from the register line for the fee regulations (NEW-07-14).

Regulation 4(2) of GN 71 of 2016 makes every fee payable with the application and non-refundable. The register shows the same rate for citizens and foreigners. The Board bills against a GePG control number, and the amount on that number governs.

What does a tobacco buyer need to register?

Registration comes before the licence. The Board's traders registration page asks for:

1. the legal name and address, with the certificate of incorporation;
2. a valid business licence;
3. the TIN certificate and taxpayer registration certificate;
4. the list of shareholders;
5. the memorandum and articles of association;
6. the number and qualifications of employees; and
7. any other information the Board asks for.

Applications for licences run through the Ministry's e-Kilimo licensing portal. The company itself is set up first; our guide for a foreign investor starting an agriculture business covers BRELA, TRA and the business licence.

The licensing page lists four grounds on which the Board may refuse a licence:

• no evidence of capacity to run the licensed business;
• the Board's view that the applicant cannot comply with the law;
• a debt owed to the Board, a farmer, a buyer or a processor; or
• failure to meet the conditions of last season's licence.

The third ground is the one that matters this month. A buyer that still owes farmers when the 2026/27 licences are issued gives the Board a written reason to refuse it.

How does contract farming through AMCOS work?

Tobacco is a contract crop. Section 16(2) of the Act lets a buyer pre-finance growers under a contract the Board approves, and section 16(3) makes these contracts seasonal. Under section 16(4), buyers contract with licensed processors in Tanzania.

In practice growers are organised in primary cooperatives (AMCOS), regional unions and a national cooperative. The Board's June 2024 industry presentation describes main buyers contracting through primary societies. It names Mkwawa Leaf, Alliance One, Premium Active, JTI Leaf Services, Voedsel, Magefa Growers, G4 Agro and Global Leaf.

The cycle runs like this:

• the AMCOS registers its growers with the Board (s.7), and the Board registers market centres and baling sheds;
• the buyer signs a seasonal contract with the AMCOS, often with inputs on credit;
• a Board-registered classifier grades the leaf before sale (ss.17 and 18);
• the buyer pays the AMCOS, which pays growers after deducting input loans and dues; and
• the buyer pays cess and other levies to councils and the Board.

This is not the warehouse receipt auction used for cashew and sesame. Our guide to the warehouse receipt system explains that model. The Act's definition of a tobacco buyer mentions sales floors, but the Act sets no auction procedure.

When must buyers pay tobacco farmers?

The Act sets no payment period in days. It does make non-payment a licensing matter. Section 24(2) lets the Board suspend a buyer's licence for one buying season, and refusing or failing to pay growers is one of the grounds.

The Board has turned that into a working rule. Its 25 April 2025 notice on market conditions told buyers to clear farmer payments and levies before licensing. It added that companies failing to pay farmers within 14 days of sale would not be allowed to keep buying in 2025/26.

The October 2026 directive layers a fixed date on top of that rule: all arrears paid by 30 October 2026, as reported. Late payment is not new. HabariLeo reported on 19 April 2025 that Urambo officials were told to list companies owing farmers.

Currency shortages have caused delays before. The Citizen reported in July 2023 that the Board linked late payments to a dollar shortage. Prices are quoted in dollars, so a buyer's cash plan needs both currencies.

Prompt payers say so publicly. The Daily News reported on 29 September 2026 that Alliance One paid TZS 169.7 billion for the 2026 season, TZS 154.2 billion of it to growers.

What does the Board's price announcement mean for buyers?

The Board announces an average price before marketing. On 21 January 2026 it set USD 1.95 a kilogram as the average for 2025/26. It said the figure weighed world markets, Tanzanian leaf quality and growers' costs, and told buyers to follow it.

The announcement gives one average, not a grade table. Contract prices by grade sit in the AMCOS contract. Ask the Board for the 2026/27 figure in writing before pricing a contract.

What cess, levies and fees does a tobacco buyer pay?

The Alliance One report lists the non-grower payments a buyer makes: district cess, cooperative union dues, Board regulatory fees, research fees and other council levies.

The cess falls on the buyer. The register line notes that councils may not charge cess above 3 percent, cess on sellers or cess on seeds (F0547). Each council's by-law sets the actual rate, so read it for every district you buy in.

Our note on the service levy and the business licence covers the turnover levy.

Excise is context only. Cigarette makers and importers of tobacco products pay excise to TRA under the Excise (Management and Tariff) Act, Cap. 147. Specific rates are indexed each year by inflation plus 2 percent (F0331). A leaf buyer should confirm with TRA whether any excise line touches its product.

Can a foreign-owned company buy tobacco in Tanzania?

The Tobacco Industry Act sets no citizenship test, and the Board fees are the same for foreign applicants (NEW-07-14). Several of the main leaf buyers are affiliates of international leaf groups.

The business licensing layer adds a question. GN 487A of 2025 closes 15 activities to non-citizens, and "on-farm crop purchasing" is one of them (NEW-08-14). A company with more than 50 percent foreign shareholding counts as foreign-owned (NEW-08-13).

The Board's own licence is named "Leseni ya Kununua Tumbaku Mbichi Shambani", a licence to buy green leaf at the farm. How the two rules interact for a foreign-owned buyer contracting through AMCOS market centres is not settled in any published notice we found.

A foreign-owned buyer should get a written position from the Board and BRELA before the season. Our guide to business licence fees covers the foreign-owned schedule rows.

What does exporting tobacco involve?

Most Tanzanian leaf is exported. Section 15 of the Act prohibits exporting unprocessed tobacco unless the Minister authorises it, and section 20 makes the Board the export licensing authority.

Our guide to export levies and charges for 2026 lists the full schedule. For the plant health step, see our note on phytosanitary certificates. The regulator map for crop exports shows the parallel boards.

What penalties apply?

An appeal against a registration or licensing decision goes to the Minister within 30 days (s.14(6)). A suspension under section 24 is appealed the same way (s.25). The penalty amounts are the 2002 figures; check whether the 2009 amendment raised them.

How does Zanzibar differ from the Mainland?

The tobacco regime is a Mainland regime. Agriculture is not a Union matter. The fee regulations apply to tobacco "purchased, processed, exported from or imported into Mainland Tanzania" (reg. 2), and grower registration under section 7 is for the Mainland.

Tobacco is not a Zanzibar crop board matter, and Zanzibar has no tobacco board. A Zanzibar business that wants to buy, process or export leaf deals with the Tobacco Board and Mainland councils like any other buyer.

Zanzibar's own law applies at the product end. Zanzibar runs a separate excise law administered by its revenue authority, as the PwC alert of August 2017 on the Zanzibar Excise Duty Act explains. A trader moving tobacco products into Zanzibar should confirm excise, licensing and movement documents with the Zanzibar authorities.

Worked example: a leaf buyer's 2026/27 file

A Tanzanian leaf company in Tabora contracts five AMCOS for 1,000,000 kg of flue-cured leaf. For illustration only, it pays the 2024/25 FCV average of USD 2.56 a kilogram from the Board's final report. Council cess is assumed at the 3 percent cap. Totals are kept by currency.

Payment timing drives the cash plan. Under the Board's 14-day rule, the USD 2,560,000 due to growers is paid within 14 days of each sale, through the AMCOS.

The company then exports 800,000 kg of processed leaf. The TPHPA certificate is TZS 130,000. Inspection is TZS 25,000 plus 799,000 kg x TZS 13, which is TZS 10,412,000. The plant health total is TZS 10,542,000 (F0376), where the importing country requires a certificate. There is no export tax (F0343). Its Class A export licence adds TZS 100,000 (F0865).

What to do now

1. Clear arrears first. Pay every grower, AMCOS and council before 30 October 2026, and keep proof. Unpaid debts are a refusal ground.
2. Set up the company. Register with BRELA, take a TIN and a business licence, and line up dollar and shilling finance.
3. Register with the Board. File the trader registration documents and apply for each licence on e-Kilimo.
4. Check foreign ownership. If the company is more than 50 percent foreign-held, get the Board's and BRELA's written view on GN 487A.
5. Sign AMCOS contracts. Use Board-approved seasonal contracts with clear input, grading and payment terms.
6. Read each council's by-law. Confirm the cess rate and collection point in every district you buy in.
7. Build a 14-day payment line. Pay growers through the AMCOS within 14 days of each sale.
8. Prepare the export file. Licence, permit, phytosanitary certificate and the Class A export licence.

Key dates for the 2026/27 season

The Board's notices for the 2026/27 marketing season, including the price, had not been published at 13 October 2026.

How Zatra helps

Zatra's import and export compliance team prepares Tobacco Board registrations, licence files on e-Kilimo and export permits. Our sector permits service handles the council, NEMC and TPHPA filings around them. Our business licensing service covers the Class A licence. See the agriculture and trade desk, the cotton buying licence and cashew buying licence guides, and our pricing page.

Government fees, cess and levies are paid by the client to the authority at the official rate against its control number. They are separate from Zatra's professional fee. Our government fees handbook lists the official figures.

The Tobacco Board, the Ministry, councils and TPHPA decide every licence and permit. Zatra prepares and coordinates the file; it does not decide or guarantee any authority's outcome. Licence suspension appeals, seizure, prosecution, contract disputes with AMCOS and formal legal opinions go to Zatra's advocate.

Sources and status

Accurate as at 13 October 2026. Fees are from the Zatra fee register at 26 September 2026. The 30 October directive is attributed to press reports; no Ministry or Board notice was found.

• Tobacco Industry Act, Cap. 202: TanzLII, version of 31 Jul 2002. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Tobacco Industry Licensing (Fees) Regulations, GN 71 of 2016: TanzLII, 12 Feb 2016. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• GN 100 of 2022 and GN 98 of 2023: TanzLII, 18 Feb 2022 and 24 Feb 2023. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Licensing and permits and traders registration: Tanzania Tobacco Board web pages, undated. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Market conditions notice: Tanzania Tobacco Board, 25 Apr 2025. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Average price for 2025/26: Tanzania Tobacco Board, 21 Jan 2026. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Final production report 2024/25: Tanzania Tobacco Board, posted 22 Oct 2025. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Overview of the tobacco industry in Tanzania: Tanzania Tobacco Board presentation, Jun 2024. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Local Government Finances Act, Cap. 290: TanzLII, Schedule para. 1. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Tanzania orders tobacco-buying firms to clear outstanding payments: Daily News, 4 Oct 2026. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Tobacco firms ordered to clear farmers' debts: Daily News, 8 Oct 2026. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Chongolo ateta na wadau wa tumbaku: Michuzi Blog, 3 Oct 2026. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Tanzania orders tobacco buyers to pay farmers by Oct. 30: Tobacco Reporter, 5 Oct 2026. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Alliance One settles 2026 tobacco grower payments: Daily News, 29 Sep 2026. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Wakulima wa tumbaku kulipwa bil 13: HabariLeo, 19 Apr 2025. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Dollar shortage bites as tobacco farmers' payments are delayed: The Citizen, 18 Jul 2023. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Crops Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, No. 20 of 2009: FAO Ecolex record, 2010. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.
• Zanzibar Excise Duty Act tax alert: PwC Tanzania, Aug 2017. Accessed 13 Oct 2026.

Figures to confirm before you act

• The 30 October 2026 deadline, the 10-day and two-week timelines and the 15 October date: press reports only; confirm with the Board or the Ministry
• Licence for buying at the farm or market centre: the register lists green leaf buying at factory at USD 4,000; confirm which Schedule line the Board bills
• Export permit charges for graded leaf and any application form fee: not in the register; the Board assesses them on filing
• 2026/27 average price: not yet announced at 13 October 2026; USD 1.95 was the 2025/26 figure
• Council cess: 3 percent is the Cap. 290 cap (F0547); each council's by-law sets the actual rate
• Tobacco levy, union dues and research fees: rates set by Gazette notice or contract; not published in the sources above
• Section numbers and penalty amounts: taken from the TanzLII 2002 text; the 2009 amendment is not applied there
• GN 487A and foreign-owned buyers: no published ruling on how it applies to AMCOS contract buying
• Register lines F0331, F0343, F0376, F0509, F0544, F0547, F0865, NEW-05-27, NEW-07-14, NEW-08-13, NEW-08-14: Zatra Handbook 06 register at 26 September 2026; the control number governs on the day of payment

This article is general information based on official sources available at the date of publication. It is not legal, tax or financial advice. Laws and notices change. Verify with the issuing authority or consult Zatra before acting.