By George Bulombola

Mzuzu, April 30, Mana: Controller of Agriculture Extension and Technical Services, Dr. Alfred Mwenifumbo, has urged tobacco farmers to embrace irrigation farming technology as a coping mechanism to prolonged dry spells during rain-fed farming.

Mwenifumbo was speaking on Wednesday when he opened the 2025 Tobacco Marketing Season at Mzuzu Auction Floors.

He said that for sustained high-quality tobacco production, farmers need to be proactive in adopting farming technologies which can promote agriculture amidst shocks and effects of climate change.

“You can invest some of the money which you will raise from the tobacco sales in irrigation solar pumps, which can easily be fixed and operated within your tobacco fields and irrigate your crops during intermittent and prolonged dry spells,” said Mwenifumbo.

Commenting on offered prices at the beginning of the market in Mzuzu, Mwenifumbo said that the prices indicated that the market was on the right course, adding that the prices were good.

“Tobacco is assorted into different grades, and every grade has its minimum price, and I am saying that we have stated well because based on the official prices according to grades, today’s tobacco has been bought either at the minimum price or at higher prices. This is a good indication of a good market,” he said.

He added that the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, is working on a contract farming policy to protect farmers from being exploited by contractors and vice versa.

 Both parties will be expected to follow the guidelines in the policy and if any of them breaches their contractual farming agreement, the case can be taken to a court of law, and we hope that the policy should by September materialize into an Act.

President of Tobacco Association of Malawi Farmers Trust, Abe Banda, also described the offered prices as good but not as good as was the case in the last tobacco marketing season.

“Last season, the lowest was about USD1.80, even USD2; however, the very same grade has been bought at USD1.20, but the good thing is that they are not buying below the minimum prices,” said Banda.

Speaking on behalf of tobacco farmers, Howard Luhanga, who is also a Rumphi NASFAM Board Member, appealed to the National Economic Empowerment Fund to extend the Farm Inputs Loans Program to tobacco farmers.

“We would also like to be involved in the Mega Farms concept so that we increase production of tobacco, which is one of the country’s forex earners,” said Luhanga.