Parliamentarians for the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) criticized a tobacco bill for favoring buyers over farmers, reports The Nyasa Times.
Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Joseph Mwanamvekha had presented the bill for debate.
MCP spokesperson Everson Makowa Mwale said the bill seeks to make poor farmers poorer and tobacco buyers richer than ever.
“The views of the farmer have been left out,” he said.
Mwanamveka insisted that the new law is set to revitalize the tobacco industry and better protect farmers.
President Peter Mutharika, in his opening of the tobacco market this year, said the tobacco law would bring sanity in the tobacco industry and claimed it favored an ordinary farmer.
Among other things, the bill seeks to change the name of the Tobacco Control Commission, tobacco regulators to National Tobacco Commission.
A 2016 study found that Malawian tobacco farmers make an average profit of $79 per acre, substantially less than the average in the agricultural sector ($351). It concludes “tobacco farmers are not earning enough to support a sustainable livelihood.”
Malawi is the most tobacco-dependent country in the world.
Tobacco bill opposed
