Japan Tobacco has urged Malawi’s tobacco growers to make sure that their leaf bales are free of non-tobacco related materials (NTRM) and has promised good prices for those that comply, according to a story in the Nyasa Times.
Japan Tobacco International’s corporate affairs and communications director, Antonio Venencesla, said it was unfortunate that his company found a lot of NTRM in the tobacco bales delivered to it. He was speaking in Lilongwe during a visit by a group of journalists to the company’s tobacco factory yesterday.
According to Venencesla, some of the NTRM found in the tobacco includes grass, plastics, stones and chicken feathers. The story mentioned also that a Nyasa Times journalist had seen used condoms and jujus (charms) among the tobacco.
And an allegation was made that some farmers were using stones and bags of sand to increase the weight of the bales.
“We are investing a lot in both human and machinery resources in making sure that we remove all the NTRM but this is not our job; farmers are supposed to make sure that they remove all these things before sending their tobacco on the market,” said Venencesla.
“JTI is the only company which offers a very competitive price but we do encourage our farmers to bring us quality tobacco with no non-tobacco materials; at JTI we believe that quality pays.”