MALAWI
The Tobacco Association of Malawi (TAMA) says it expects tobacco farmers to produce 161 million kgs of the crop during the 2019/20 growing season but has warned farmers against overproduction. Speaking during the press briefing recently at Tama house in Lilongwe, TAMA president, Abel Masache Banda, who is also president of the International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA), said it was their duty as the mother body to take part in civic education of their farmers.
“As you know each year, tobacco buyers set the required amount of tobacco they will want to buy and it’s our duty as Tama to create awareness to our farmers on the importance of producing required production of Tobacco. “The Association expects tobacco farmers to produce 161 million kgs of the crop and not more than that,” he said.
He added that TAMA plans to engage in different awareness campaigns on how it could help farmers to adhere to the required demand.
Banda was recently elected president of the International Tobacco Growers Association for a two-year term, which he hopes would enable him to advocate for issues that affect Malawian tobacco growers on the international tobacco market. There are more than 40 million tobacco growers in the world and many other indirect beneficiary groups whose lives depend on tobacco.