Malawi committed to exiting tobacco cultivation

Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera said on Tuesday, April 21, that he wants to move the country away from tobacco cultivation, for which he sees no viable economic future.[1]Tobacco cultivation remains the country's main source of finance and accounts for 70% of the country's foreign exchange earnings.

Malawi's president says the future of tobacco farming is under threat as anti-smoking measures backed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) are leading to a decline in demand across the world.

The economic, human and environmental cost of tobacco growing in Malawi

Malawi is now one of the world's ten largest producers of tobacco leaves. Historically considered "green gold", tobacco cultivation actually structures a large part of Malawian economy, particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in global demand. Thus, in 2020, an economic crisis shook the country, after the United States announced that it would block imports of tobacco leaves from Malawi, accused of exploiting nearly 80,000 children on plantations. Beyond creating a very strong economic dependency, the country's articulation around tobacco cultivation, which is very unprofitable, plunges the Malawi in endemic and multigenerational poverty. Finally, tobacco cultivation, requiring large resources in wood, water, and chemicals, leads to an environmental disaster. Thus, between 2000 and 2016, the country lost 14% of its forest area. This deforestation, in addition to creating an upheaval of the ecosystem, reduces the population's accessibility to drinking water, while the country is already directly threatened by a risk of shortage.

Towards an industrial cannabis culture

While Lazarus Chakwera has announced his ambition to initiate a transition so that the Malawian economy is “weaned from tobacco” in favor of “more sustainable and profitable crops”, the country recently enacted a law authorizing the industrial cultivation of cannabis, which, according to the president, should benefit farmers more. Malawi is one of the last countries not to sign the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which aims to offer economically viable solutions to tobacco cultivation, in particular through aid for conversion to more profitable and less energy-intensive crops. As such, it is doubtful that cannabis cultivation will be identified by the WHO as a “credible alternative” to tobacco cultivation.

©Tobacco Free Generation

[1] Voice of America, Malawi President Proposes Switch from Growing Tobacco, 20/04, 2021, (accessed 21/04/2021)

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