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Government Reviews the Prohibition of Hazardous Work for Children Order

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The Malawi Government has committed to protect children from all forms of child labour including hazardous work through reviewing of the prohibition of hazardous work for children order of 2012. Speaking as he was commissioning a two day stakeholder review meeting on Thursday in Salima, Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Mr. Wezi Kaira said that current order has helped the country in fighting child labour. He said that the review has come at a right time when Malawi is a path finder country in the fight against child labour and therefore all players must move fast in addressing child labour issues. PS for Labour Mr. Wezi Kaira And the International Labour Organisation has since advised that the country must quickly move out from developing good policies and laws without action. Technical Officer at the Malawi ILO Mr. Gracious Ndalama said that it is his belief that the country will benefit from the outcome of this review meeting. The prohibition of hazardous work for chil
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LILONGWE AGRIBUSINESS OFFICE ADVISES FARMERS TO FORM GROUPS

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Janet Mtengezo (front) emphasizing a point The Lilongwe District Council Agribusiness Office has advised farmers from Traditional Authority Chadza in the district to consider forming groups such as clubs and cooperatives. Lilongwe District Agribusiness Officer, Brenda Mwagomba was speaking on 11 August at Chikanga Primary school where 45 tobacco farmer members of Tama Farmers Trust from around Msozi area were being sensitized in how cooperatives are established. She encouraged the participants to proceed with their intention to establish a cooperative as the area has none. “Government has stopped focusing on single farmer trainings but farmers in groups such as clubs or cooperatives. We would like the farmers from TA Chadza to benefit from national grants such as Agricultural Commercialization (AGCOM) Project just like others are doing,” she said. Prior to her comments Cooperatives Development Officer, Janet Mtengezo from the Ministry of Trade and industry sensitized the partic
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WORLD BANK APPROVES $265 MILLION TO SCALE UP AGRICULTURE COMMERCIALIZATION AND IMPROVE FOOD RESILIENCE

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Chengwe Coop of Kasungu benefited from AGCOM The World Bank has approved $265 million approximately MK274 billion to scale up agriculture commercialization and to improve food resilience in Malawi. According to a press statement released by Washington on 31 May 2023, Malawi is set to establish new six irrigation schemes, support an additional 560 productive alliances that target more than 112,000 households, and work with smallholder farmers to execute productivity-enhancing investments with support of a $250 million grant from the International Development Association (IDA) and a $15 million grant from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program that was approved by World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors. The statement says that the new financing is part of phase 3 of the regional Food Systems Resilience Program for Eastern and Southern Africa, or FSRP. The regional program has an overall envelope of $2.75 billion and aims to increase the resilience of food systems and
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TOBACCO MARKET AS OF 28 APRIL, 2023

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AHL Tobacco Sales has it that the 2023 price trends of all tobacco types have consistently been on the increase, compared to that recorded during the same period in 2022. By the closure of business in week 3 of sales on 28th April, a marked increase of 37.6% has been recorded; at an average price of $2.05/kg this year, compared to $1.49/kg registered during the same comparative period last year. Cumulatively, 13.8 million kilograms of all tobacco types have been sold so far this year. The traded volume has raked in $28.4 million this year. During the same period last year, 0.6 million kilograms of tobacco had been sold, from which $ 0.96 million was realized. As the market is still in its infancy, lower bottom leaf styles are currently dominating on all the 3 markets.
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RECOGNISED IN FIGHTING CHILD LABOUR

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It was another international workers’ day also known as labour day on 1 May at Masintha ground in Lilongwe where Tama Farmers Trust was recognised as the best organisation in fighting child labour among the Employers Consultative Association of Malawi (ECAM) members. His Excellency the State president Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera presented the trophy to the Chief Executive Officer of the Trust Mr. Nixon Lita. Meanwhile, Head of Child labour Unit at the Ministry of Labour Mr. Francis Kwenda has sent his congratulatory message to the Trust for the accolade. He said that the recognition is a sign of the efforts the country is making towards eliminating child labour in agriculture in general and in tobacco growing in particular. He also said that this adds value to cause of Alliance 8.7 role as a Pathfinder Country, which calls for Malawi to go further and faster to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 8.7. Tama Farmers Trust trains farmer members through cooperatives and g
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CHENGWE COOPERATIVE RECEIVES TRACTOR FROM AGCOM

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Chengwe Cooperative found in the Traditional Authority Kaphaizi in Kasungu District received a capital grant of a brand-new Messy Ferguson 80 hp Tractor from the Agricultural Comercialisation (AGCOM) Project on 18 April, 2023. The handover ceremony was in the presence of T/A Kaphaizi, TAMA Farmers Trust officials, Transform Organisation officials, Farmers Engineering Services (FES) officials, traditional and political leaders, and farmers from the area. The cooperative applied for a grant from AGCOM in 2020 and were successful in the year 2022. AGCOM provided the grouping a 29 million Kwacha grant with which they purchased a tractor from FES at 38 million Kwacha upon adding their contribution as per conditions of the grant. According to the leadership of the Cooperative, they aim at increasing agriculture production as they will use the tractor for most of their farm activities on a larger scale than before. The cooperative is also going into value addition with the help of the o
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MARKET COMMENTARY AS OF 21 APRIL 223

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1. More volume of tobacco sold and better average prices contributed to higher earnings the country has realised from tobacco sales after 2 weeks in 2023 season, compared to that earned during the same period in 2022. $16.1 million has been generated after 2 weeks of sales this year, compared to $0.5 million earned during similar period last year. 2. A total of 8.1 million kilograms of burley and flue cured tobacco have been sold at an average price of $1.99/kg after 2 weeks of sales this year. During the same comparative period last year, 0.4 million kilograms of tobacco had been sold at an average price of $1.40/kg. 3. Current market trend: Tobacco supplies on the market are on the increase and sales are also increasing towards the recommended trading capacity, especially on Lilongwe Floors. During similar period last year, tobacco deliveries were on the decline with depleted sales. See insights and ads Boost post Like Comment Share
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