Our Team
THE BOARD
At the highest level, the Commission is driven by a Board of Commissioners which provides guidance on strategic matters.
Commission cautions against nesting – severe punishment awaits
In the 2025 selling season, nesting will be punished harder, with owners of confiscated tobacco forfeiting all to the Commission. According to the Tobacco Industry Act (2024), nesting is the concealment of stems, scraps, loose leaf or any object within a tobacco bale...
11 companies to buy Malawi tobacco – new buying company on board
Eleven companies are expected to buy Malawi tobacco in the 2024/2025 selling season. Among the 11 is a new company – East Bridge. The others are Nyasa Manufacturing Company, Limbe Leaf Tobacco Company, JTI, Alliance One, Hail and Cotton, Premium Tobacco Malawi...
2025 marketing season opens
The 2024/2025 tobacco selling season will open on Wednesday, 9th April with Lilongwe Selling Floors as the first. Tobacco Commission spokesperson Telephorus Chigwenembe says preparations for the start of the marketing season are at an advanced stage. “We have been...
Commission calls on traditional leaders to arrest child labour
The Tobacco Commission has called on traditional leaders in the country to use their authority to stop child labour in tobacco and to ensure all children go to school instead. Board Chairperson Dr Godfrey Chapola made the appeal at a tree planting exercise jointly...
Industry out to survey tobacco fields
The first round of crop estimates survey for the 2024/2025 tobacco farming season rolled out on Monday, with data collection members from the industry have been deployed to various parts of the country. Coordinated by the Commission, the survey, which ends on January...
Commission whips errant growers
The Tobacco Commission has imposed on the owners of nested tobacco bales confiscated in the 2023/2024 selling season a penalty of 50% of the proceeds from the sale of the crop. Following the confiscation, the nested bales were sent for re-handling after which the crop...
Grower licensing impressive
With two weeks to the close of the grower licensing period for the 2024/2025 farming season, licensed tobacco volumes are showing a positive trajectory, keeping alive confidence in the country’s commitment to satisfying market demand. As of last week, licensed tobacco...
Licensed volumes treble
As the tobacco selling season closed on Friday August 2, the Tobacco Commission had licensed 60.2 million kilogrammes of tobacco, almost trebling the volumes licensed by the same date last year. By August 2 last year, the Commission had licensed 21.7million...
2024 selling season officially closes
The 2024 tobacco selling season officially closed on Friday with the sale of 1,238 bales at Mzuzu Selling Floors. President Dr Lazarus Chakwera opened the 2024 selling season at Chinkhoma Selling Floors in Kasungu on April 15. The just ended selling season ran for 16...
Third round of crop estimates survey results released
The third round of tobacco estimates survey conducted in June this year has revealed a 7% increase from last year’s tobacco production. A report released by the Tobacco Commission on 17th July shows that this year, Malawi has 129 million kilogrammes of tobacco. In...
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT
Our Executive Management comprises the following:
Chief Executive Officer
Mr George Chinkhandwe
Director of Technical Services
Mr Evans Chilumpha
Director of Human Resources & Administration/Acting Chief Executive Officer
Mr Chimwemwe Luhanga
Director of Finance
Brief History Of Tobacco Farming In Malawi
Tobacco was introduced in Malawi (then Nyasaland) in 1889 by David Buchanan. The first export was made in 1893 where tobacco weighing 40 pounds was sold at an auction in London. Six years later, 2,240 pounds of tobacco was exported. Notable growers then were Messrs Hynde and Stark among others (1899).
From 1906 to 1925, the industry expanded rapidly with the coming in of A.F Barron, Wallace and later Conforzi. The first two bought their respective estates in Zomba and later expanded their operations to the central region where they established farms at Mbabvi and Lingadzi. Here, they experimented with the tenancy system that helped to expand tobacco farming among natives.
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The rapid expansion led to over production and deteriorating quality of the leaf. Authorities and all stakeholders saw the need to establish laws to govern and regulate the industry. Discussions on the same started in 1924 and the first new law called Tobacco Ordinance was enacted in 1926.
The tobacco crisis of 1930s that saw overproduction of the crop and a sharp drop in prices prompted authorities to form the Tobacco Marketing Ordinance (1937) that succeeded the Tobacco Ordinance. Later, in 1938, the Tobacco Control Board was formed and was followed by Auction Nyasaland Limited.