Products and Resources of Nyasaland 



Tobacco* — Tobacco is being grown success- 

 fully, and the quality is improving. The Imperial 

 Tobacco Co. have a factory at Limbe, near 

 Blantyre, which has stimulated the industry. 

 According to the report, **the only complaint the 

 Imperial Tobacco Co. have against the Protectorate 

 is shortage of supply." Local prices range from 

 2d. to 8d. a lb., and samples sent home have been 

 commended and valued by merchants at from 6d. 

 to 9d a lb. Tobacco requires considerable skill and 

 attention, more so than any other crop in Nyasa- 

 land ; so, unless it fetches a price above 4d. a lb. 

 the grower gets little benefit, on account of the 

 long distance the product must travel before being 

 shipped. In 1905 fifty-six thousand seven hundred 

 and twenty-six pounds were exported. This has 

 increased yearly. In 1908-09 over five hundred 

 thousand pounds left the country, the amount being 

 valued at ^14,253. 



Rubber* — Rubber promises to be of some 

 importance in Nyasaland, and within the next 

 few years there should be a considerable export 

 of the cultivated article. In 1908-09 over a 

 thousand acres were planted, and more than three 

 thousand five hundred are now under cultivation. 



The Director of Agriculture in his report says : 

 *' Three ounces dry rubber per tree will be a good 

 average yield for trees over four years old in 

 Nyasaland, and I should not advise anyone to 

 base his calculations on a higher return." He 

 does not recommend planters to go in for Ceara 

 on a large scale, for no data as to the life of the 



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