Malawi Leader Vows Reformed Tobacco Industry
The southern African country relies heavily on the crop despite years of efforts to diversify the agricultural economy.
LILONGWE, Malawi — Malawi's president is vowing to reform the tobacco industry ahead of the upcoming marketing season to ensure farmers earn better incomes from the crop that anchors the economy, writes Winston Mwale.
President Lazarus Chakwera, speaking Thursday after meeting agriculture officials and tobacco processors, said he has "strongly demanded a sanitized value chain that is driven by best practices from farmers, market operators, grower associations and all interested parties."
"This we are doing to ensure that our hardworking farmers earn a decent income from their season-long labor," Chakwera said just a week before the 2023/24 tobacco marketing season opens.
Among the interventions, the president said relevant government agencies will protect the market through close monitoring and elimination of illegal cross-border trading of tobacco.
Authorities are also reinforcing the new Tobacco Industry Act "so that it complies with agenda of upscaling production, marketing and value addition of the crop, this being a springboard to a stronger economy that anchors sustainable development," Chakwera said.
Tobacco accounts for over 60% of Malawi's foreign income earnings.
The southern African country relies heavily on the crop despite years of efforts to diversify the agricultural economy.