- The returns from tobacco has been dwindling for the past decade mainly due to falling global demands driven by anti-smoking campaigns. In 2020, tobacco earned Malawi $173.5 million, down 27 percent from the year before, as per the statistics of the Tobacco Commission.
Malawi is a major tobacco producer, ranking first in the world for burley and seventh for overall production and the economy is highly dependent on the leaf. According to Government statistics over 70 percent of the nation’s export income comes from tobacco called as ‘Malawi’s Green Gold’. The country’s exports used to flourish, buoyed by vast tobacco farming businesses.
The returns from tobacco has been dwindling for the past decade mainly due to falling global demands driven by anti-smoking campaigns. In 2020, tobacco earned Malawi $173.5 million, down 27 percent from the year before, as per the statistics of the Tobacco Commission. The current year has been particularly bad. Forced by poor volumes and low prices at the auction floors in Lilongwe the Tobacco Commission has cut trade to three days a week. In spite of the poor returns from tobacco Malawi’s government still considers it a “strategic crop” and continues to invest in its production.
Despite low prices, most of the Malawian farmers continue farming tobacco as it is the only business they know. One option considered by some of the farmers is switching from tobacco to the newly legalised marijuana.
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https://trendsnafrica.com/malawis-dentist-to-population-ratio-at-1-419-000/
