LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The country’s green gold control body’s Tobacco Commission (TC) on Monday, April 6, 2020 announced dates of opening 2020 tobacco marketing season amid Covid-19 Pandemic threats.
According to a press statement released and signed by the Chief Executive Officer, Kaisi Sadala, opening of the marketing season follows the Presidential directive to protect the stakeholders of the industry from the said pandemic.
The statement has indicated 20, 22, 27, April and 4 May, 2020 as dates for the opening of the season at Lilongwe, Chinkhoma, Limbe and Mzuzu Selling Floors respectively.
The statement further indicates 14 April as a date for booking of tobacco deliveries at Lilongwe Selling Floor and 20 April, 2020 as date for the same exercise at Chinkhoma, Limbe and Mzuzu Selling Floors.
In view of the Covid 19 Pandemic, the commission has put in place some preventive measures that tobacco growers and other stakeholders will observe.
They include washing hands with chlorinated water, undergoing body temperature scanning, regularly sanitising oneself using sanitising materials available at the selling floors and observing a one metre social distance; among other measures.
Tobacco is a cash crop on which Malawi’s economy heavily relies. For the past two seasons, the industry has faced numerous challenges such as low prices, high rejection rates by buyers and many others.
During this season, the sale of the crop will be faced with Covid 19 Pandemic; a disease which has already claimed a life in the country and thousands of lives world over.
