High transport deductions worry tobacco farmers

Some tobacco farmers have complained that transporters are overcharging their bales by either falsifying the origin of the leaf is coming from or demanding advance payment, it has been learnt.

Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) chief executive officer Albert Changaya confirmed in an interview that some transporters are indeed duping farmers, but said the regulatory body has put in place measures to stop the malpractice.

Farmers interviewed in Dowa confirmed that transporters are making a killing by taking advantage of the desperate situation farmers are in to dispose of their tobacco.

The farmers said some drivers are charging between K30 000 and K40 000 as transport for six to 10 bales from Bowe in Dowa to Lilongwe Floors.

“My tobacco stayed long in the house and I was told to pay K30 000 upfront for six bales, a thing which I did as I was desperate.

“The transporter told me the money was for booking space at the auction,” said Simeon Nyangu, a farmer from Dowa.

Another farmer, senior group village head Mwalele from Bowe in Dowa, said a transporter who collected his tobacco vanished after convincing him that the tobacco will be taken to Mzuzu Auction Floors where he had already booked space.

But Changaya said some transporters are not sincere and falsify the place where the tobacco is coming from and are paid more.

“From next season, we will have a system, which will help us clearly identify the real area tobacco is coming from and our farmers will be protected from being overcharged,” he said.

Tobacco Association of Malawi (Tama) chief executive officer Graham Kunimba on Tuesday said if indeed it is true that some transporters are abusing  farmers by charging  them more, it means farmers cannot move out of the poverty trap.

“TCC as regulators must seriously look into this issue because transporters were not supposed to overcharge,” he said.

Road Transport Operators Association (Rtoa) executive director Chrissie Flao admitted in an interview that some transporters are overcharging, but said the problem is that growers’ associations prefer to work with individual transporters. n