Nairobi, May 12 -- BAT Kenya has reversed a six-year downward trend in the number of contracted farmers and tobacco output, pointing to the effectiveness of its raft of interventions to secure raw materials for cigarette production.

The latest disclosures show the cigarette maker closed December 2025 with 2,440 contracted farmers, who supplied 5.5 million kilogrammes of tobacco leaf. This marked an improvement from 1,870 farmers in the previous year, when deliveries stood at 4.7 million kilogrammes.

The growth was driven in part by higher payouts, with the firm raising the per-kilogramme price to Sh254.54 from Sh234.04 in 2024. The increase lifted farmers' earnings to Sh1.4 billion last year, up from Sh1.1 billion in the prior period. ...