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Poor prices irk Nasfam members
By
Joseph Langa - 20-06-2002 |
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National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (Nasfam) has said poor farm produce prices, especially tobacco prices, have heavily affected smallholder farmers in the country.
Speaking at Nasfam’s annual general conference in Lilongwe yesterday, the organisation’s advisor Thomas Carr said although members are continuing to grow more cash crops notably tobacco, groundnuts and cotton, farmers are not fully benefiting from their sweat because of poor prices.
He said the prices of major cash crops in the country have gone down this year compared to previous years.
Carr said the prices are likely to worsen next year if nothing is done to avert the situation.
Nasfam members produce over 1.6 million metric tonnes of tobacco, 1000 tonnes of groundnuts and 750 metric tonnes of cotton.
However, Carr said despite the problems, Nasfam has continued to sing a success story over the years due to the hardworking of the farmers, saying farmers generate up to K1.1 billion per annum from the sales of all crops.
Chief executive officer Dyborn Chibonga said in a separate interview Nasfam is mainly worried with the unpredictability of tobacco prices on a daily basis which, he said, has a very big impact on the small holder farmers in the country.
“Our main concern is the unpredictability of the prices. The same quality leaf does not get a similar price all the time. At least, if there was consistency it would have helped the farmers,’’ he said.
Chibonga said Nasfam farmers produce the best quality tobacco in the country, which would have fetched more dollars per kilogramme compared to the current average price of US$1.22 per kg.
“Although the price is above the national average and the average of every smallholder farmer in the country, Nasfam believes the rate would have been higher if the prices were better,’’ he said.
On another note, Chibonga said Nasfam was also worried with the prevalence of cross border trade of tobacco in the country, especially in Mangochi and Mzimba districts.
He said total quantity of tobacco that Mzimba South Association used to send to the auction floors has gone down from 4,000 bales of tobacco at a similar period in 2000, to less than 1000 bales this year because of the cross border trade.
“This affects all stakeholders in the tobacco industry, including Nasfam. It also affects the growth in the economy because government is losing on revenue,’’ he said.
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