By Moses Nyirenda
Lilongwe, August 15, Mana: The Tobacco Commission says it is excited and satisfied with improved tobacco production that has been emerged in the 2023 tobacco marketing season.
Speaking on Tuesday during press briefing in Lilongwe, Tobacco Commission Board Chairperson Godfrey Chapola said that as a commission they have seen an increase in tobacco production in this year's tobacco marketing season as compared to last year's tobacco season.
“We have seen an increase in production this year as compared to last season, we have closed the season with 120 million kilogrammes while last year the closing volume was 85 million kilogrammes,” Chapola said.
He added that, the increase in tobacco production in this tobacco marketing season was made possible due to the good prices offered in 2022 saying that this motivated farmer to grow the crop and enticed new growers to enter the trade.
He also said that the increased sponsorship to the tobacco farmers by the buyers and good weather patterns in most tobacco growing areas also triggered the increase in tobacco production in this year’s tobacco marketing season.
Chapola further said that as Tobacco Commission they are on the move to maintain the increase in tobacco production in order to satisfy the tobacco buyers.
“As we celebrate this year’s production, we are inspired to promote increased production to ensure we satisfy global demand for our tobacco, this year’s trade demand was at 170 million kilogrammes and we have supplied 120 million which means there is a great market opportunity at our disposal.
“One of our strategic goals for the next five years is to raise our annual production to 200 million kilogrammes, we are confident that we will achieve this because the market dynamics are working in favor of increased production,” he said.
Commenting on the same, Tobacco Commission Chief Executive Officer, Joseph Chidanti Malunga said that they will be pursuing the mega farming and irrigation farming in the next five years as part of increased production drive.