The Tobacco Association of Malawi (TAMA) says it expects tobacco farmers to produce 161 million kilogrammes of the crop during in the 2019/20 growing season and 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 International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA) said it is their duty as the mother body to take part in civic educating their famers.
“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 famers on the importance of producing required production of Tobacco.
“The Association expects tobacco farmers to produce 161 million kilogrammes of the crop and not more than that,” he said.
He added that TAMA plans to engage in different awareness campaigns on how best it could help farmers to adhere to the required demand.
Banda was recently elected president of 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 others indirect beneficially groups whose lives depend on tobacco
The Global ITGA for 2019 was conducted on November 3-5, 2019 in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
By Sellaphine Banda – Mana
