Farmers take on Chakwera

P

resident Lazarus Chakwera yesterday had a rude awakening when some tobacco growers told him in the face that they were getting a raw deal due to low prices for the leaf.

During the President’s tour of the Lilongwe Auction Floors at Kanengo where he officially opened the 2023 Tobacco Marketing Season, Kasungu-based grower Msayiwale Zakaliya said farmers wanted the market suspended to resolve the issue of prices.

“We want the market to be suspended until they raise the prices. What sin did we commit to be selling at these prices?” lamented the farmer in a face-off with the President.

The growers argued that the prices of tobacco grown on contract did not reflect the reality on the sales and when the President seemed to agree, the growers rolled into celebration.

Zakaliya said: “We don’t have people to represent us. And we don’t even know when they agreed to settle for these prices.  We want to be part of the pricing process so that we detail what we spend to produce the crop.”

In response to the concerns, Chakwera assured the farmers that the government has set up a strategy to ensure growers are offered better prices.

However, he blamed on the growers, arguing that some of the tobacco was of lower quality, as such, cannot fetch higher prices.

Based on the morning sales conducted before Chakwera’s inspection of the floors, the tobacco was selling at $2.40 (K2 472) per kilogramme (kg) as the highest price while $0.95 (K978) per kg was the lowest.

In his prepared address later, the President said tobacco farmers are the chief foreign exchange producers, warning that if production stops, the economy would collapse.

Said Chakwera: “Tobacco farmers are the ones making it possible for the rest of us to wear imported clothes, buy imported fuel, take imported medicines, travel abroad, watch foreign channels on our televisions, ride in imported car.

“My appeal is to all stakeholders here is to support the tobacco farmers whose products sustain our economy and our way of life. That support includes buying their products at fair prices, because buying tobacco at unfair prices does harm to our economy.”

He further hailed the Tobacco Commission (TC) for its goals to increase annual tobacco production to at least 200 million kg in the next five years.

“I am sure one way of attaining that is by adopting the mega farms strategy that my administration is championing, and I want to assure the Tobacco Commission of government’s support in pursuing that,” the President stated.

Meanwhile, the TC has projected national volumes of tobacco for this year to hit 126 million kg, up from 85 million kg in the last growing season.

TC chairperson Eric Chapola said over the past few years, the annual production has remained below 125 million kgs.

He said: “We envision that by 2028, we will have gotten an annual production of 200 million kg.

“To continue with strategies aimed at increasing production to be in line with international demand, we will continue with our resolve to reclaim our position as the most preferred tobacco supplier within the region.”

The target, he said, will be achieved through the promotion of irrigation tobacco farming.

Tobacco is the country’s chief foreign exchange  earner, contributing about 60 percent of the country’s forex revenue.