Govt to review tobacco contract system

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Peter Mwanza has disclosed that government will soon review the newly-adopted integrated production system (IPS) as one way of unveiling strengths and weaknesses of the system. IPS, commonly referred as contract farming, has been at the centre of controversy since it was officially approved by

President Joyce Banda last year. IPS allows the traditional auction floors to only handling 20 percent of the total volume of tobacco produced with the remaining 80 percent being allocated to contract farming. Speaking in Lilongwe on Wednesdaywhen he opened the 25th annual congress for the Tobacco Association of Malawi (Tama) which was held under the theme ‘Strategic partnership in the tobacco sector- For a win-win situation, Mwanza said government wants to improve the programme.

“Government want to review the [IPS] programme to see [its] weaknesses and strength to improve the programme,” he said.

The minister was reacting to complaints from Tama president Reuben Maigwa who said IPS was implemented without a clear regulatory framework. Maigwa expressed worry that growers may start thinking that the system is bad and may create ‘a sense of despair’ among growers.

But in reaction, Mwanza assured Tama officials that government will soon commence an official review of the system which he said will place the tobacco association at the centre of the review process.

“There is going to be an official review and Tama will be involved to ensure that Tama is at the centre of it. Generally, we have accepted it [IPS] and we have to promote it,” added Mwanza.

The ministers aid government is aware of challenges emanating from registration flaws, IPS’s lack of proper and well -articulated and balanced implementation guidelines and proper regulatory framework.

When she opened the 24th Tama annual congress, President Joyce Banda said her administration has approved the new tobacco production system to fight against external shocks affecting tobacco industry. Said Banda: “I have approved the introduction of the integrated production system as a response to some of the negative effects of FCTC [Framework Convention on Tobacco Control].”