Malawi President Chakwera opens tobacco marketing season with call for crop diversification

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Malawi leader Lazarus Chakwera officially opened the 2021 tobacco marketing season on Tuesday with a call to tobacco farmers to consider crop diversification in the face of shrinking market for tobacco.

President Chakwera said it is not a secret that soon tobacco will not have a market as the campaign against smoking is gaining momentum and farmers have to start prioritizing other crops like groundnuts, beans in order to boost the country’s economy.

The President also urged the line Ministry to always engage all stakeholders in the industry to address some of the challenges the tobacco farmers are facing.

Among other things, the President has directed the Ministry of Agriculture to find more buyers as at the moment the industry has only nine buyers.

Chawera believes more buyers will bring competition on the market translating into better earnings for farmers.

“As a starting point, I want a permanent solution to the malpractice by some stakeholders of charging farmers dubious levies that have not been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture. This must stop. It must stop because any senseless levies imposed on farmers increase the cost of production and decrease the farmer’s return.

“And a the tobacco industry in which every player can milk the system and boost profits at the expense of the farmer is not something I will tolerate. A possible low hanging fruit in addressing this power imbalance is for the Ministry of Agriculture to work with the Tobacco Commission on ways of attracting more buyers beyond the nine we currently have. That way there is more competition and less monopoly among buyers, because monopoly is one of the factors that contributes to the disempowerment of the farmers,” said Chakwera.

Last year’s tobacco projection was 150 million kilograms. This year’s projection which is 120 kilograms is slightly lower and currently, the highest price is $2.20 and the lowest is $1.50.

This year’s tobacco marketing season has been opened under the theme: ‘Small Holder Grower, Pillar of Tobacco Industry.’

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).