Over allegations of child and forced labour practices, US has announced restrictions on tobacco imports from Malawi. Though the US share in Malawi’s tobacco exports is not significant, the move is bound to have repercussions on its exports to other destinations too. Tobacco farmers are worried that the development may lead to a fall in prices of the commodity.
Tobacco is known locally as “green gold”, in Malawi, an impoverished south-eastern African nation. It contributes significantly to employment, foreign exchange earnings (60 percent) and tax revenue (25 percent). The tobacco sector is already under pressure due to global anti-tobacco campaigns. The US move could lead to further weakening of the economy.
The trouble began two months back, when British law firm Leigh Day initiated a case against British American Tobacco (BAT) on behalf of 2,000 Malawian farmers, including hundreds of children, for forced labour and poverty wages. Subsequently,
The US suspended imports of tobacco from Malawi, saying that it had reliable information about the use of forced and child labour in the sector. A survey in 2017 by the country’s statistics agency reported that 38 percent of the country’s children aged between five and 17 were employed as labor.
