The Tobacco Commission (TC) has attributed the drop in tobacco output this year to disease, heavy rains and post-harvest losses.
TC spokesperson Telephorus Chigwenembe said this on Friday in Lilongwe during a news conference weeks after the Third Round Tobacco Production Estimates Survey put the final output at 155 million kilogrammes (kg), a drop from about 197 million kg reported during the Second Round Tobacco Production Estimates Survey.
He said tobacco bushy-top disease, which was observed at a later stage of the growing season coupled with heavy rains that led to leaching in some areas and notable post-harvest losses in the Northern Region had a bearing on the final output.
Said Chigwenembe: “Important to note is the fact that the factors that have led to the reduced production projection emerged or worsened after we had already conducted the second round of crop estimates survey that gave us the 197 million kg projection.
“Having emerged or worsened after the second round, these factors could not have been fully reflected in the second round estimates.”
TC’s explanation comes weeks after tobacco stakeholders, including Tama Farmers Trust expressed frustrations with the development, saying they were made to believe that lower prices were due to overproduction of the crop.
“This situation is unfortunate. In all fairness, farmers need a partial refund of money invested in form of a rebate because they were forced to sell under precedent that there is overproduction,” said Tama Farmers Trust president Abiel Kalima Banda.
In an interview, agricultural extension services expert Leonard Chimwaza said that there is need for crop estimates to be credible to give a clear picture to economic planners in view of tobacco’s importance to the economy.
“This shows that there is more that the commission can do to ensure that the estimates are reliable and are closest to the actual picture,” he said.
While acknowledging the concerns, Chigwenembe said the crop estimates do not guarantee actual outcomes because conditions change; hence, they are conducted multiple times.
He said: “We want to assure stakeholders that we will keep updating our methodology to ensure relevant emerging issues are factored in.
“Our responsibility as the industry regulator does not end with production estimates. We are also responsible for the quality and value of our tobacco.”
Chigwenembe said the tobacco regulatory authority is strengthening compliance by, among others, embarking on the Know Your Grower Project which will help to improve the traceability of the country’s tobacco to make it more competitive globally.
As of Thursday last week, the market had sold 135 million kg of the leaf at $269.8 million (about K472 billion) at an average price of $2 (about K3 502) per kg compared to about 182 million kg at $464.8 million (about K813 billion) at an average price of $2.55 (about K4 465) per kg.
This season, the number of buyers dropped to eight from 11 last season.
The firms are JTI Leaf (Malawi) Limited, Alliance One Malawi, Limbe Leaf Tobacco, Hail and Cotton (Malawi), Premium Tobacco, Associated Central African, African Tobacco Services and Nyasa Manufacturing.
Last season, farmers produced 221 million kg of tobacco against licensed volumes of 174.4 million kg and demand of 213 million kg.
The crop generated a record $542 million (about K949 billion) at an average price of $2.46 (about K4 307) per kg.
