TAMA BUSINESS FOCUS

Kalima Banda (left) with Nixon Lita TAMA CEO Farmers in this country have been advised to refrain from using child labour especially at this time when field work is gradually picking. Tama Farmers Trust President Abiel Masache Kalima Banda said this on Wednesday, January 25 afternoon when he officially received a certificate and a medal of recognition for being the best member institution in the fight against child labour in 2022. “It is pleasing to note that more and more organisations are recognizing our work in the fight against child labour. The Employers Consultative Association of Malawi (ECAM) went through a rigorous process in assessing their members in various categories. To have been recognised as the best awardee in this category is not only good news but an encouragement on our part. This is why I call upon my fellow farmers not to relent in the fight against child labour. I know farmers are tempted to use cheap labour but I urge them not to touch the child sector. I spea...

The latest US crop production report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows the following tobacco leaf trends: • The area harvested in 2022 is 83,200 ha, compared to 88,600 ha in 2021. • The total production in 2022 is 197,300 metric tons, compared to 216,800 metric tons in 2021. Recent US government reports suggest that 2022 flue-cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco production is down around 9% on yearly basis, while Burley is down 22% and fire-cured is up 2% . Harvesting of early planted tobacco has started in a number of regions in Zimbabwe . So far, farmers are reporting a good quality crop. As of the beginning of December, Zimbabwean tobacco growers have planted 53,571 ha of tobacco compared with 38,312 ha during the previous season, based on the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development data. Statistics also show that about 18,614 ha were put under irrigated tobacco and 34,957 under dryland tobacco. The number of lic...

 

A cross section of the participants Malawi government says it is ready to achieve the goals set for path finder countries despite the slow progress observed in the past two years due to Covid19 pandemic. Speaking during the opening of a one day National Child Labour Technical Working Group (NCLTWG) meeting this morning in Dowa, Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Labour Wezzie Kaira called for the participating members of the committee to plan well activities that are implementable in 2023. Participants have been drawn from different ministries and departments, and private sector mostly in agriculture sector. Andrew Namakhoma is the country consultant for Elimination of Child Labour in Tobacco growing (ECLT) Foundation and has since advised all stakeholders to put efforts together if the battle is to be won.

By early January, 2023 most fields of different crops were giving hope and that most farmers including those producing tobacco are all smiles as some from the central and southern areas have started reaping the bottom leaf. Tama Farmers Trust President, a farmer from Nkhotakota is one of the farmers who have started reaping. “I started reaping the bottoms on 9 th January and I am sure those who dry-planted are much ahead of us. If the weather conditions remain as favourable as it is now, I can foresee a better volume for the country as compared to the previous season,” said Mr. Abiel Masache Kalimba Banda from his base. Tama Farmers Trust President, Mr. Kalima Banda has since told Farm Radio Trust that tobacco farmers are not worried with high cost of production for this season as he said that it is very likely that it will the great factor for setting up minimum prices for this season. “We are not bothered with the high costs of inputs to tobacco because we know how the minim...

Chancellor Kaferapanjira The Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) a partnership of enterprises and associations representing all sectors of the economy in the country has presented pro agriculture views on the 2023/24 fiscal budget during the pre-budget consultation meeting in Blantyre on 9 th January, 2023. According to Chancellor Kaferapanjira, MCCCI’s Chief Executive officer government should grant Value Added Tax (VAT) waiver on ESCOM charges for approved investors in irrigated farming operations who produce exportable products in order to promote irrigation agriculture. He further said that Government should lead in establishing Mega farms and provide enough support to those producing in the 2022/23 agricultural season and that all such Mega farms should include relevant value addition. MCCCI says Government should allocate a specified proportion of Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) resources during the phase-out stages of the programme to ...