TCC wants competitive Malawi tobacco
The Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) says it will step up its efforts to ensure that Malawi tobacco is competitive on the global market in the wake of continued international pressure on the leaf.
“The only issue thus left of our tobacco is to step up on our competitiveness where we need to ensure that we grow tobacco that is competitive enough to meet the current global and future demand of tobacco and sustain it,” said TCC public relations officer Juliana Chidumu this week.
She was responding to a Business News questionnaire that sought TCC’s comment on the future of tobacco industry with respect to growing pressure emanating from the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) guidelines which seek to abolish tobacco farming in the long run.
But sounding optimistic, Chidumu said while the WHO-FCTC is pushing for the anti-smoking drive, statistics show that there are emerging markets especially in the Far East Asian-pacific countries where the population of smokers continue to rise.
She said the growing population of smokers across the globe should be perceived as a “niche” for Malawi to exploit; “hence, the need to step up our game in terms of growing a competitive crop.”
“Tobacco has a future and it will always have a future. One thing you must understand is that tobacco is a legal crop in Malawi and elsewhere in the world and Malawi is a country that grows one of the best tobacco in the world,” she added.
Chidumu applauded government’s initiative to approval of the Integrated Production System (IPS) of growing tobacco, commonly known as contract farming, which she said will enable Malawi to align its tobacco output to international demand for the leaf.
IPS, which was approved by President Joyce Banda earlier this year, involves buyers combining farming and marketing strategies by dealing directly with farmers in producing the leaf.
If implemented fully, the IPS will see the traditional auction floors only handling 20 percent of the total volume of tobacco produced.
Chidumu said IPS provides opportunity for Malawi to grow tobacco which is compliant to good agricultural practices, free from Non Tobacco Related Material (NTRM) and child labour, among others.
According to TCC, tobacco contributes about 25% contribution to Malawi’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employs up to 12% of the entire population.
