Tobacco.org

• WHO, FCTC disputes burley claims as Malawi gets case study status  

Claims that partial guidelines for the implementation of Articles 9 and 10 have a negative effect on burley tobacco and its producers are inaccurate, the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) has said.

But the International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA), which has fought against the adoption of the guidelines, has, on several occasions, argued that the treaty threatens the livelihoods of 30 million tobacco growers globally.

The association estimates that 3.6 million people in just five poor African countries depend on tobacco cultivation.

In Malawi alone, reducing the demand for harsher tasting burley tobacco could shrink the economy by 20 percent, according to ITGA. Two million Malawians directly survive on tobacco growing.

The association said a severe shock to exports for tobacco will lead to the destabilisation of Malawi’s economy which will take decades to recover from such a “one-time shock”.

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Tobacco outlook positive, says TCC but growers not hopeful  

The Tobacco Control Commission is positive about the quality of tobacco in the fields although the total tobacco output for the country is 2012 is expected to go down.

TCC Chief Executive Officer Bruce Munthali said this when he visited some farmers in Kasungu.

Munthali, who visited Chimbwazi Estate in T/A Chulu and a farmer at Chikwere, said enumerators were currently carrying out the first assessment of the yield whose results would be ready first week of February.

He said however that the general picture for the year looks promising.

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Musicians fundraise for tobacco farmers 

It was a mixture of fun, dance and laughter when the Black Missionaries popularly known as Ma Blacks recently held a fundraising show for tobacco farmers in Lilongwe.

Other artists who performed included Anthony 'Mr Cool' Makondetsa, Skeffa Chimoto, urban musician Yanjanani Chumbu and the 'Akamwile" stars Fikisa.

The two shows held at Mungo Park and Summit Culture Centre were organized by Phindu Tobacco Growers Association (PTGA) and proceeds will assist tobacco farmers under the association.

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Govt for dialogue with tobacco buyers 

Government has told tobacco buyers that any issue about tobacco that needs government attention can only be fixed through dialogue. Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Peter Mwanza, said many of the challenges in the industry can easily be solved through dialogue.

"Let's discuss issues that may be bothering you, that is the only way of finding solutions. There is nothing that can't be discussed and solved because in this industry there are a lot of problems for both of us," said Mwanza after completing a tour of JTI Leaf Ltd premises last Monday.

Head of corporate affairs at JTI Leaf Ltd, Limbani Kakhome, said government has been forthcoming when his company has had issues needing its attention. Kakhome said JTI has plans for a cigarette manufacturing company and a processing factory which the company is already expanding at the moment.

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Malawi’s tobacco marketing season extended:Updated  

Malawi’s tobacco marketing season could not officially close on Friday, December 9, and has been extended to a week with Lilongwe Auction Floors being the last to sell the leaf, putting to rest a strained season ever.

Lilongwe has delayed to close after a sudden increase in tobacco bales being ferried to the floors during the last weeks which authorities believe was from Zambia and Mozambique where the markets already ended.

Ordinarily, the tobacco sales was supposed to close last week Wednesday, November 30, 2011 but officials could not do so when some farmers still had their bales at the floors.

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Alliance One's Malawi Agronomy Team Receives Golden Leaf Award at Tabexpo 2011  

Alliance One International, Inc. (NYSE: AOI) today announced that on November 16, 2011, its Malawi agronomy team received a Golden Leaf Award, awarded by Tobacco Reporter at Tabexpo 2011 held in Prague, related to initiatives that promote farmer sustainability and food security in Malawi.

Mark W. Kehaya, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Malawi is an important burley sourcing market where we have a factory and developed presence. Our Malawi agronomy team has been focused on increasing contract growing through our Integrated Production System ('IPS'), which we have demonstrated improves quality, crop yields and profit to the farmer."

J. Pieter Sikkel, President, commented, "Individual farmer contracting with IPS allows our team on the ground to help the farmer institute best agronomic practices in a compliant and socially responsible manner. Our model is predicated on farmer sustainability to ensure that tobacco is produced to the quality and quantity required by our customers."

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'The Amazing Race' recap, season 19, episode 4: Albany couple stays in the race, while Marcus and Amani go from first to last  

Welcome back to Season 19 of "The Amazing Race." Seven teams remain in the race around the world with hopes of winning $1 million dollars. . . .

The teams land in Malawi and run for cabs. Those sitting in the back of the plane -- including leaders Amani and Marcus and Cathi and Bill -- are the last to leave, putting them at a disadvantage in the race. Cindy, who seemingly spent her hours on the plane not sleeping, but researching Malawi's revenue streams, informs us that Malawi's largest cash crop is tobacco. Which is why today's Roadblock is at a tobacco warehouse, just in case you were concerned that RJ Reynolds Company was now sponsoring "The Amazing Race."

The task is to transport 10 200-pound bails of tobacco on a short-handed dolly through a labyrinthine warehouse while the employees cheer them on. Jeremy, Tommy, Laurence and Justin all race through the warehouse maze while Marcus and Amani and Bill and Cathi are still stuck in their taxis on their way to the Roadblock. Perhaps Bill and Cathi's experience on their Albany farm will give them an advantage in the challenge, despite their late arrival time.

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VIDEO: Episode Preview “We Love Your Country Already; It Is Very Spacious” 

A disheartened racer is encouraged by the spirit of the local workers, and it’s an intense foot race to the first-ever Pit Stop in Malawi. Tonight at 8/7c!

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• TAR 19 EP 6 "We Love Your Country Already; It Is Very Spacious" (Malawi) 

THE "RACE" TRAVELS TO MALAWI FOR THE FIRST TIME WHERE A DISHEARTENED RACER IS ENCOURAGED BY THE SPIRIT OF THE LOCAL WORKERS, ON "THE AMAZING RACE" SUNDAY, OCT. 30 . . .

"We Love Your Country Already; It Is Very Spacious" (Malawi) - After falling to the back of the pack, a disheartened racer is encouraged by the spirit of the local workers, and it's an intense foot race to the first-ever Pit Stop in Malawi, on THE AMAZING RACE Sunday, Oct. 30 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Emmy Award nominee Phil Keoghan is the host. . . .

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Auction Holdings Limited (AHL) provides a platform for tobacco trading in Malawi. AHL runs four main floors for selling of tobacco. These floors are Limbe floors, Lilongwe Floors, Chinkhoma Floors and the Mzuzu floors. AHL also runs rural markets. At all these floors AHL provides facilities and support structures that enable smooth trading of tobacco.

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ZIJLMA: Malawi's Attractions Beyond the Amazing Race 

the only TV show I watch with any regularity is The Amazing Race. So imagine my delight when I see my old home town is to be featured in the next episode. I caught a brief glimpse of some tobacco auctions in "Africa" and knew it had to be Malawi. Malawi being the world's largest producer of burley tobacco you see. Not 100% sure how it differs from other tobacco, but I can vouch for its tastiness, particularly in the brand of "Life" cigarette I used to enjoy. A competing brand was "Sportsman". I am not even making it up.

Around two million Malawians depend on the tobacco industry for their livelihoods, that's a huge percentage, out of a population of 15 million (most of them young). The drawback is this industry tends to use a lot of child labor, and of course smoking isn't exactly good for you either. So here's an idea, why doesn't everyone go and visit Malawi instead.

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Tobacco tenant jailed 10 years for sexual assault 

A tobacco tenant who worked at Choma in Mzuzu will spent the next 10 years in the cooler after the Mzuzu Magistrate Court convicted him for defiling a four year old girl (name withheld) in March this year.

Last month the same court sentenced another HIV positive Tobacco Tenant to 16 years imprisonment with hard labour for defiling his boss’s 10 year old daughter.

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• Child labour: the tobacco industry's smoking gun 

Many of Malawi's estimated 80,000 child tobacco workers suffer from a disease called green tobacco sickness, or nicotine poisoning. Symptoms include severe headaches, abdominal cramps, muscle weakness, breathing difficulties, diarrhoea and vomiting, high blood pressure and fluctuations in heart rate, according to the World Health Organisation.

Since the handling of the leaves is done largely without protective clothing, workers absorb up to 54 milligrams of dissolved nicotine daily through their skin, equal to the amount of 50 cigarettes, according to 2005 research by Prof Robert McKnight, of the College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. Farm owners routinely plead ignorance of the health implications. . . .

"In any developing country where tobacco is grown, you find child labour starting at the age of five," says Marty Otañez, a researcher at the University of California's tobacco control research and education centre.

Malawi, which has the highest number of child labourers in Africa, is a key offender. Health issues aside, children are also financially exploited. Olofala and Ethel often work 12-hour days, but neither earns a salary. They "help" their parents, who work on one of Kasungu's 22,000 registered tobacco farms and estates. Other kids receive an average of $0.25 for long hours of unrelenting work.

They are arguably the lucky ones; some never see their money at all. "We have many reports of children who were lured into labour with promises of good pay. But at the end of a season, all they get is an old sweater," says Grace Masanya, Malawi project manager for Plan, the international child rights NGO.

At the heart of the problem is Malawi's poor economic situation. Parents involve their children in economic activities to provide food for the family.

Over the past decade, the country has become one of the five largest tobacco producers in the world, largely due to low tariffs on unmanufactured tobacco imports, cheap labour and lack of regulations. According to the UN's statistical division, more than 98% of Malawi's low-cost leaf is exported, with the EU and the US top destinations.

And more than 90% of Malawi's tobacco is bought by two US-based leaf buyers, Universal Corporation and Alliance One International, which resell it to international tobacco firms. Their main clients are two of the world's biggest cigarette manufacturers, Philip Morris (Marlboro) and British American Tobacco (Lucky Strike). Consequently, Malawi's tobacco is found in the blend of almost every cigarette smoked in the west. . . .

Part of the reason for those huge profits is that tobacco giants benefit from $1.2bn in unpaid child labour costs, according to Otañez's colleague Prof Stanton Glantz. Replacing child labour with adults paid the minimum wage would increase the production costs by $10m per year in Malawi alone, he says.

For Glantz, the solution is simple: "If major tobacco companies were genuinely committed to improving the socio-economic conditions of child workers, they should rectify harmful business practices by enforcing a policy that they will not purchase any tobacco grown using child labour."

The tobacco giants disagree. . . .

While this standoff continues, the people of Malawi benefit little from their "green gold". Malawi remains one of the least developed nations in the world, ranking 153 out of 169 countries on the 2010 Human Development Index. About 40% of the 13.2 million Malawians live below the poverty line of $1.25 a day.

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• MALAWI: Giving Up on Tobacco 

Malawi is reducing the production of tobacco following huge losses by smallholder tobacco farmers and commercial estates trading the crop on the country's only official tobacco markets, the auction floors.

Tobacco has been the country's sole main revenue earner accounting for up to 60 percent of the foreign exchange estimated at 950 million dollars. Malawi's tobacco accounts for five percent of the world's total exports, according to the country's ministry of agriculture.

Commercial production of Malawi's tobacco leaf dates back to 1889 when it was introduced by colonisers from Virginia in the U.S.

But since 2008, the auction floors have been seen prices plummeting from an average of 3 dollars per kilogramme to 50 cents this year. On average, a tobacco farmer spends up to one dollar to produce a kilo of tobacco, according to the ministry of agriculture.

The Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM), an umbrella body of farmers' organisations, attributes the low prices to the global anti-smoking lobby, which has led to demand for the crop reducing. The farmers' body also blames the drop in sales on the current economic crisis. . . .

It is not only farmers who are concerned over the loss of trade in tobacco. Government authorities are also disappointed with the loss in foreign exchange.

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No such thing as fair trade tobacco  

To highlight the exploitation of tobacco farmers in developing countries, a university professor has launched www.FairTradeTobacco.org

The website is an online repository of photos and videos showing the tobacco industry’s exploitation of tobacco growing farmers in developing countries.

Malawi has one of the highest rates of tobacco-related bonded labour in the world. Cigarette manufacturers benefit from low and unpaid adult labour in this region. © Marty Otañez The site’s creator is Dr Marty Otañez, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado in the United States. Announcing the website, he said there is no such thing as “fair trade tobacco”, as tobacco farming is associated with health, environmental and human rights violations.

“My goal is to draw attention to tobacco as a human rights issue and to corporate malfeasance in the global tobacco-farming sector,” Dr Otañez said.

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UK puts Malawi aid on hold  

Britain has suspended budgetary aid to Malawi, accusing the impoverished African country’s government of failing to address concerns over economic management and human rights abuses.

The UK, which provided about £19m in budgetary assistance last year, criticised the government for suppressing demonstrations, intimidating civil society organisations and passing a bill that would make it easier to restrict opponents without legal challenge.

In a statement, the Department for International Development added that Malawi’s overvalued exchange rate had created “chronic foreign exchange shortages” that were stymying private sector growth while there were daily fuel queues and deteriorating exports of tobacco, one of its key exports. . . .

Malawi has enjoyed strong growth since receiving debt relief, with gross domestic product growth averaging about 7 per cent in the past five years on the back of bumper tobacco harvests, according to the World Bank. But about 40 per cent of the country’s 15m population live in poverty, while the country’s GDP per capita is a meagre $310.

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