Minister of Agriculture, Sam Kawale says inefficiencies in this year’s tobacco auction floors are fuelling smuggling of the country’s green gold outside the country.

Kawale, who inspected Limbe Leaf Tobacco Company offices in Lilongwe, disclosed that most farmers have not brought their tobacco to the auction floors due to the slow systems in all four tobacco markets.

Kawale says the auction system, which the country uses to sell tobacco, is burdened with inefficiencies that slow down sales, leaving farmers sitting on huge stocks of unsold tobacco.

He says there is the need to address the matter by utilizing the existing mechanisms to speed up the processes in the floors.

The Minister also expressed commitment to continue engaging stakeholders in the tobacco industry to iron out challenges facing the sector. 

“What we need to do is to speed-up processes in all auction floors in the country, as farmers are now resorted to sell in parallel markets leading to smuggling of the commodity. Let’s help the farmers to sell their tobacco to the market,” said Kawale.

Meanwhile, the chairperson for Limbe Leaf Tobacco Malawi Limited, Professor Ronald Mangani, has called for a policy review to strengthen the market.

“We have had a good discussion with the minister mostly focusing on policy review which if implemented we would have a more productive Tobacco market than it is now,” noted Professor Mangani.

Limbe Leaf Tobacco Malawi Limited is one of the leading buyers in the country, and currently has a workforce of 3500 people at its Lilongwe plant.