The Cotton Council of Malawi has launched the 2026 cotton marketing season with optimism, projecting earnings of about K27 billion from the sale of an estimated 22,000 metric tons of cotton.
The Lilongwe Motor Show has secured sponsorship from Nico General and Nico Life, subsidiaries of NICO Holdings Plc, for its highly anticipated 7th edition.
What was once hailed as Malawi’s next economic breakthrough has, for many farmers, turned into a costly illusion.
In 2021, cooperatives across the country plunged into industrial hemp farming, lured by promises that the crop—dubbed “green gold”—would rival tobacco as a top foreign-exchange earner.
With projections of up to $700 million in annual revenues, hope spread quickly from policy rooms to rural fields. For thousands of smallholder and commercial farmers, it seemed like a rare chance to escape the volatility of traditional crops and poverty.
Just a few seasons later, that promise lies in ruins.
Page 1 of 17