Malawi’s focus on tobacco seems to be nowhere near abating if records from this year’s sales are anything to go by, despite purported efforts to wean the country off the crop.
Amidst anti-smoking lobbies and World Health Organisation (WHO) proposals urging nations to move away from the crop due to its health implications, its contributions to the country’s foreign exchange reserves remain one of the largest when viewed through the lens of a single product.
This year’s marketing season closed on Friday, with the Tobacco Commission (TC) indicating that clearance sales would be conducted this week.
Statistics from AHL Tobacco Sales show that as of Thursday, Malawi had realised a total of $395.31 million from 132.8 million kilogrammes (kg) of the so-called green gold at an average price of $2.95.
The cumulative tobacco earnings are 40 percent higher than the $282.6 million realised during the 2023 selling season.
With Malawi requiring $250 million a month for its import needs, this year’s earnings could be enough to keep the economy running for just over one-and-a-half months.
Tama Farmers Trust President Abiel Kalima Banda described this year’s tobacco marketing season as successful.
Kalima Banda said tobacco growers saw better prices on the auction floors, something they had not experienced in the past five to six years.
This would motivate tobacco farmers to stick with the crop, despite the threats it faces, especially in the absence of suitable replacements.
Kalima Banda, however, bemoaned the delays in remittances of proceeds by buyers to growers.
Meanwhile, TC says it has so far licenced 60.2 million kg of tobacco for the next growing season, almost triple the volumes licenced at the same time last year.
As of August 2 last year, the TC had licenced 21.7 million kg.
TC Public Relations Officer Telephorus Chigwenembe said that, in terms of the number of licences, TC had issued 12,778 as of Friday compared to 4,913 licences by August 2 last year.
“The commission is impressed with the progress of the grower registration and licencing exercise, as the data show there is growing interest in the production of the crop in the 2024-25 farming season.
“TC believes the good prices offered to growers in the recently ended selling season have motivated many people to turn to tobacco or to increase their production volumes this year,” he said.
TC aims to increase annual tobacco production in the country to 200 million kg by 2028.
In recent years, Malawi has struggled to meet trade demand for its tobacco.
“In the 2023-24 farming and selling season, the trade demand for Malawi tobacco was 190 million kilogrammes. However, under 140 million kilogrammes were sold.
“Looking at the trends, the commission is convinced that there is a significant market opportunity that Malawi must seize,” Chigwenembe said.
In late 2023, Malawi took a significant step forward in its tobacco control measures by ratifying the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), an international treaty designed to address the severe public health risks associated with tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.
A key aspect of implementing the FCTC is working with tobacco farmers on crop replacement and diversification, which also offers long-term economic, agricultural and health benefits.
In the meantime, implementation is in its infancy, with farmers hoping they will soon be able to divest themselves from the crop in favour of others.
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