Marrying good practices to tobacco production

By Isaac Kambwiri:

Held in high esteem by Malawians, tobacco, which is the country’s main foreign exchange earner, has not been spared from criticism.

For example, some people continue to associate the crop with controversies around its production and marketing chain.

The other issue that has put tobacco in negative light is unsustainable prices.

However, buyers have openly attributed the issue of dwindling prices of the crop to low quality tobacco, especially that which is produced without following internationally recommended Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Agriculture Labour Practices (ALP).

These restrict the use of child labour as well as forced labour in tobacco cultivation and production.

To ensure that locally-produced tobacco also follows internationally recommended ALP guidelines, two of the country’s biggest tobacco buyers, namely Alliance One and Limbe Leaf, jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Labour in 2020.

Three years later, on October 31 2023, the agreement was renewed for three years.

Speaking during the signing ceremony of the MoU in Lilongwe, Secretary for Labour Wezi Kayira said the agreement would enable officers from his ministry to conduct routine labour inspections on the two companies’ tobacco grower contracted farms across the country.

The two companies have committed themselves to be ensuring that the routine inspection tours are conducted. As such, they will be providing financial and material support.

According to Kayira, the routine inspections would ensure that tobacco the two companies contract from smallholder farmers across the country is produced in line with internationally recommended ALP guidelines.

These days, buyers at international markets are not compromising on these as one way of meeting the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s demands.

“This MoU will enable us to conduct inspections and enforce labour laws to ensure that tobacco cultivated locally does not involve child labour and forced labour issues. Our first line of action is always to provide advisory services to promote cooperation and voluntary compliance instead of confrontation,” Kayira explained.

Kayira observed that his Ministry has been experiencing setbacks when conducting routine labour inspections in most workplaces, including tobacco farms and processing industries, due to the lack of resources and personnel.

He indicated that, through his office, the government is in full support of the ALP strategy as it is in line with his ministry’s flagship programme called the Malawi Decent Work Country Programme, which, among other core objectives, is designed to promote the creation of a decent working environment in the local agricultural sector.

“Let me applaud the two companies for renewing this three-year agreement with my ministry, which will go a long way in ensuring a safe work environment for workers in the local tobacco sector.

“As we all know, international tobacco buyers are increasingly demanding products produced in decent work conditions; hence, we will be able to secure and maintain markets for our tobacco, which is mostly sold abroad,” Kayira pointed out.

In his remarks, Alliance One Tobacco Malawi Managing Director Simon Peverella said his company thought it wise to be part of the MoU to ensure that Integrated Production System (IPS) tobacco growers in the country follow all the seven recommended ALP principles when cultivating the crop in their respective fields.

According to Peverella, the seven ALP principles help promote fairness, justice and safety for stakeholders involved in tobacco cultivation and production.

The principles, which restrict the involvement of children under 18 years in tobacco production, have been touted for promoting safety in tobacco production.

“We, as a company, have about 165 field technicians in the nine growing areas of the country working with about 10,000 contracted tobacco farmers. The field technicians help these contracted farmers with agronomic technical expertise and in ensuring that they follow the seven ALP principles recommended under the Integrated Production System,” Peverella stressed.

He further explained that under the MoU, his company’s field technicians work hand-in-hand with district labour officers from the Ministry of Labour, reporting extreme breaches of labour, key among them being the use of children and tenants as a source of labour in tobacco fields.

“In the tobacco industry, our policy is that no 18-year-old should be working in tobacco farms and ensure that, per the government’s abolishment of the tenancy system in 2021, our contracted growers remunerate their workers in line with provisions of the country’s Employment Act. All these restrictions are part of the recommended ALP principles being promoted under the IPS,” he said.

On her part, Director of Finance for Limbe Leaf Elaine Lotter said, as part of fulfilling terms of the three-year agreement, her company recently donated 20 motorcycles to the Ministry of Labour, adding that the motorcycles are being used by district labour officers across the country in the course of doing labour inspections including in tobacco farms.

According to Lotter, the core objective of the agreement is for the government, through the Ministry of Labour, to identify the cause of any prompt action whenever there is a breach of any of the seven recommended ALP principles by tobacco farmers, such as child labour, forced labour, freedom of association, safe work environment and income and working hours, fair treatment and terms and employment.

“This MoU is, and has been, an integral part of our company’s clean supply chain process and it ensures that all contracted tobacco growers and surrounding communities promote fundamental minimum standards and principles that are in accordance with local and international legislations,” Lotter emphasised.

She said although her company has put in place programmes designed to address issues such as decent work deficits, including child labour and forced labour, among others, in tobacco fields, the Ministry of Labour needed to be fully capacitated so that it can independently monitor labour-related issues on all tobacco farms.

Internationally recommended ALP principles, which condemn the use of children and forced labour in production— while denouncing human trafficking, unfair treatment, unsafe work environment, impingements to freedom of association for all workers in equal measure— also ensure that income is commensurate with working hours.

They also require tobacco growers to sign proper employment agreements before one commences work.

In Malawi, the principles are not merely regarded as principles; they are now recognised as building blocks for the Malawi tobacco industry.