Malawi tobacco farmers to increase production

Tobacco farmers in Lilongwe Rural have vowed to increase tobacco volumes this year because the prices at the floors during the just ended season were impressive.

During the last tobacco selling season, most farmers got better proceeds from their crop and only a few complained of bad prices, especially when the kwacha was devalued and immediately floated.

During an interview at Kasiya in Lilongwe last week, when Auction Holdings officials visited the area to conduct field meetings, about four farmers said they got over K 1 million (about $2 500) after deducting all their expenses.

“This was one of the best years in as far as selling tobacco was concerned. I took my 20 bales to floors within three weeks and I managed to rake in K1.5 million. After deducting some expenses like loans for fertiliser and paying off laborers I got over K 1.2 million as profit. I will definitely grow more tobacco this year,” said Wellington Mtsilo.

Blackwell Mwale who has been growing tobacco for about ten years now, said the prices of tobacco were good before the kwacha was devalued, but he still managed to get a considerable profit.

“If we compare prices between previous year and this year, the prices were generally good this year. I got over K7 000 [about $17.5] as profit and I will grow more tobacco this year. Last year, I cultivated one acre but this year I will cultivate one and half acre,” said Mtsilo.

General manager for Tobacco Sales at Auction Holdings Moses Yakobe, said AHL managed to sell 168 million kg’s of tobacco within 77 days, while during the same period last year they only sold about 79 million kgs.

“We organised this field tour to evaluate how the growing season went and the farmers are happy. This year we will make sure that we improve on all the areas, we had some shortfalls so that the farmers benefit from our systems,” said Yakobe.

He said AHL facilitates fast delivery of purchased tobacco to merchants and this creates space for fresh deliveries and reduces congestion in the warehouses.

“We manage a modern IT system which helps farmers know when their produce will be sold once their tobacco is receipted. This system facilitates efficient payment and it also helps farmers know the location of their tobacco on the selling floors,” said Yakobe.

He said had it been that Auction sales were allowed to be conducted on a daily basis, the season could have been shortened even further thereby bringing money into farmers pockets very quickly.