Mzuzu auction floors suspend tobacco sales
Tobacco farmers in the northern region forced the closure of the Mzuzu Auction Floor after protesting against low prices offered by buyers.
“The Auction Floor has been closed indefinitely,” said Paul Mwambaki head of the tobacco market at Mzuzu.
He said the farmers made their distress at the low tobacco prices and they decided to close the market.
Mwambaki said the stakeholders will meet and the buyers to negotiate for better prices for the leaf
President Bingu wa Mutharika who announced fixed minimum prices for buyers has continued to fight for the plight of farmers and has threatened to send packing buyers if they don’t offer better prices on the auction floors.
He accused them of running a cartel and fixing prices.
Tobacco remains Malawi main foreign exchange earner.
Tagged with: Bingu, Mzuzu, tobacco
please let the price of tobacco raise ,I Wish you should try one year to plant tobacco u will understand how hard is the task morethan 4 mounths . pliz let our president fight 4us or just allow some company to proccess T here in malawi ….mwina amalawi ena kumapeza nawo mwayi wa ntchitomonga ku kayelekera
Tithandizeni bwana Bingu
Should we assume that it was campaign talk, when you were accussing them of cartel and fixing prices
Somehow to be a farmer is not interesting thing at all, more especially here in malawi. Do farmers in other countries, suffer just like malawian farmers? If i had my way, i could ask them all, to grow marijuana, i believe, this produce can not make them stupid any more next year, like what tobacco buyers think, they are.
Find more investors to process the raw material within Malawi; just avoid becoming a Commanding Economy because we will rot like Zimbabwe.
Evils or slavery of colonization are just hundred or two hundred years ago. A new conscious is getting root in people, but there is still time to make the world live like what humans thinks they should live like.
Adakupusitsani Bingu avekere ndi wathamangitsa anthu amenewa, mwaiwala kuti apawo ndi mizu yakachere youkumana pansi. Basi kudatha kwa Bingu, simudamuvotera, nanga adzafunanso kuti mumuvotere? Tulo atumbuka inu.
YOU mean you people did not know that all that Bingu was saying was was campaign chit chat. Mark my word this Bingumania will kill us.Everybody should know that we are in a liberalised economy and that nobody can dictate the prices willy nilly. Wake up Malawians and start thinking objectively.
This issue of prices of tobacco is of serious concern to all Malawians not just for Mzuzu. Tobacco income is our one time source of income and the difference between living below poverty line or not (towards the millennium development goals, MDGs). From a pure economic stand point it is case of supply has over taken demand and hence prices fall. From a social, political and cultural point this problem urinates on all the effort to better improve the leaving standard of our people. So politicians must act and take over the pricing of tobacco auction floor to ensure fair deal for our farmers.
One solution is contract pricing where prices are agreed the year before. A commission of enquiry needs to be set up to explore this issue of contract selling of tobacco. Otherwise it is another year of tears for our esteemed farmers they work so hard in the field and employ labour, fertiliser and trucks. Lets us also explore Co-operative selling. Otherwise keep tobacco for next year!
Hands kawoko it seems you have a personal problem with northeners.If these people were sleepy as you claim, would they have taken this action? everyone knows that the tobacco-prices problem is a country-wide one and you cant deny this fact.Eeh! kawoko please leave ma people alone,do you understand?
amalawi tiyeni tiyambe kulima chamba.Fodya ndi chamba they were all created by the creator.Panopa fodya akuoneka kuti watha msika.Azunguwa kwao chikanakhala chambachikumela bwino bwenzi akulima..koma akaona kuti ndiku africa amapereka ma restrictions.Ndichifukwa ma taliban sazasiya kulima opium amaziwa kuti cash ilimenemo.