With few days to go before the opening of the 2023/2024 tobacco marketing season, JTI Leaf Malawi has released a total of K1,244,300,000 to be distributed to all its growers as a collateral release.
Addressing reporters in Lilongwe on Wednesday, JTI Leaf Malawi Corporate Affairs and Communications Director, Limbani Kakhome said every year JTI growers deposit a sum of money as a security loan to enter into a contract agreement with the company.
He added that the money is being given back as one way of improving the livelihoods of the growers for their day-to-day needs.
“These growers, have over the years, been giving us top quality leaf and as a token of appreciation, we also try our level best to come in at their time of need. We have a very cordial working relationship with our growers such that we know that around this time, they do not have enough money to finance their farming activities hence coming in to bridge that funding gap,” he explained.
The money given to the growers was deposited as collateral at the start of the farming season last year.
Chitukura Zone farmer, Davie Namoni, hailed the company for the timely gesture, saying the money will assist them during these tough economic challenges that the country is experiencing.
Namoni further explained that tobacco crops require a lot of funds because most of the farmers cannot afford half of the money that is needed during tobacco farming so the collateral from JTI has always been helpful to them in their farming activities.
The company, through its flagship Mlimi Wozitsata Program, distributed 3,255 metric tonnes of maize in January on loan to its growers who cultivated over 12,000 hectares of tobacco across the country.
