OPINION | Better Under Chakwera – Tobacco Farmers
For anyone who truly cares about Malawi and respects the struggle of its smallholder farmers, what is happening in the tobacco industry today is not just worrying — it is painful to watch.
Many farmers are now saying it plainly: removing President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera last year was a costly mistake.
Tobacco is not just another crop. It is Malawi’s economic engine. For decades, it has carried this country on its back — bringing in over half of export earnings, supporting the kwacha, and putting money into the hands of hundreds of thousands of rural families.
These are not big corporations. These are ordinary farmers. They grow tobacco to survive — to pay school fees, to buy fertilizer, to fix their homes, to feed their families.
So when tobacco fails, Malawi feels it everywhere.
And right now, it is failing.
The latest figures from the Tobacco Commission are alarming. In the first week of this year’s marketing season, total sales reached only $4.8 million. Even worse, 98% of the tobacco was rejected.
Ninety-eight percent.
That means almost everything farmers brought to the market was turned away. No sale. No money. Just losses.
Many farmers are now forced to carry their tobacco back home or sell it at painfully low prices. The average price has dropped to just $2.13 per kilogram — barely enough to cover the cost of production.
Now compare that to last year.
In the same opening week under President Chakwera, farmers earned $9.4 million — almost double. Prices were also higher, averaging above $2.30 per kilogram.
This is not a small difference. It is a collapse.
And people are starting to realise it.
There was a belief that leadership could be judged by simple, visible things — like whether people could afford a plate of nsima. But the economy is bigger than that. Real stability is built on production, exports, and income in people’s pockets.
On 16 September 2025, Malawians made a choice.
Today, tobacco farmers are living with the consequences.
Auction floors in Lilongwe, Limbe, Mzuzu and beyond are not just marketplaces — they are the heartbeat of rural Malawi. When they are strong, villages come alive. Money circulates. Children stay in school. Small businesses grow.
But when they weaken, everything slows down. Homes suffer. Schools struggle. Local economies shrink.
This is not just a bad season.
It points to something deeper — a loss of focus, a loss of urgency, and a loss of understanding of how critical the tobacco sector is to Malawi’s survival.
Good leadership protects its farmers. It fights for better prices. It ensures systems work. It does not leave farmers exposed.
What we are seeing now suggests that protection is gone.
And farmers are paying the price.
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When shall tobacco farmers smile, we changed the government to make things get worse than before particularly for the farmers. How could entire powerful new administration choose to remain mutely while the people who scoop out foreign currency from hard lamp of our infertile soil incessantly crying. Who could emerge to fight for our weak hands when driven engine fails to exercise his power.
This year-not like other years before, Malawi produced a surplus of more than 27 million kgs of tobacco. This is not small quantity-it is equivalent to 270000 bales which could be realized from 14000 hectares of land.Yet this is the tobacco that has no market this year.What with few buyers on the market? So we expect prices to be better? Have we forgotten forces of demand and supply?
Now,let us be honest.Rejection has not started this year-it has been there throughout the years.I remember, when buyers went too low during Bingu time,the President had to summon some buyers to explain.It did not help solve the puzzle of a having the materials to sell but the price of which is dictated by the buyer and not the seller.This is day light robbery.
I guess, the way forward is to allow farmers sell their tobacco in other countries.Very sorry
Foolish article. Does a president influence the decisions of tobacco buyers? No – It is global demand. Countries are banning smoking. UK has banned smoking for a large part of its population, other countries are sure to follow soon. Tobacco consumption is harmful. Secondly, it is foolish to even talk about bringing back a useless president under whose watch the economy went down the drain, and where human rights of citizens were violated consistently. You should be ashamed.