Our Team
THE BOARD
At the highest level, the Commission is driven by a Board of Commissioners which provides guidance on strategic matters.
Statement on the confiscation of bales of nested tobacco
The Tobacco Commission would like to address concerns about the confiscation of nested tobacco in the 2024 selling season. The Tobacco Industry Act (2024) defines nesting as ‘(a) the concealment of substandard tobacco within a bale; or (b)the concealment of stems,...
2024 tobacco selling season closes early August
The sales committee of the tobacco industry in Malawi has proposed that the 2024 tobacco selling season close early August. At its meeting on July 9, the committee comprising various industry players agreed to have Chinkhoma floors close on July 12, Lilongwe and Limbe...
64% of projected tobacco volume sold
By the end of week 9 of the current selling season, up to 64.2% of the projected 140 million kilogrammes of tobacco for the 2023/2024 season had been sold. By Friday, June 14, volumes of tobacco sold hit 89,858,250 kilogrammes which generated $258,200,437. The crop...
Malawi’s Agriculture Labour Practices Code for tobacco industry to promote human rights – Minister
Malawi’s Minister of Labour Honourable Agnes Nyalonje says the newly developed Agriculture Labour Practices (ALP) Code for the tobacco industry is ‘a significant milestone in our collective journey towards ensuring fair, safe, and dignified labour practices within...
Commission, Police confiscate volumes of tobacco in illegal trade
The Tobacco Commission and the police in Mkanda in Mchinji district on Friday confiscated flu cured tobacco in a two-tonne truck suspected to have been on its way to Zambia. This follows the confiscation in Namitete of another two tonne truck with burley tobacco...
Second survey on tobacco production rolls out
The second round of a nation-wide tobacco estimates survey for the 2023/2024 farming season rolled out on Monday, February 26, three weeks after the first round which showed a 21% increase in 2024 tobacco production as compared to that of 2023. Stakeholders will look...
Survey projects 21% increase in tobacco production
A report of the first round of crop estimates survey for the 2023/2024 farming season has projected a 21% increase in 2024 tobacco production from that in 2023. The report projects a production of 146 million kilogrammes of the leaf in 2024. In 2023, 120 million...
Industry winds up 2024 first round of crop estimates survey
The first round of the 2023/2024 crop estimates survey that kicked off January 15 was wound up on Friday, February 2. The exercise involved enumerators from the tobacco industry in Malawi collecting data from various tobacco growing areas in the country for three...
Survey reveals increased planned tobacco production
Tobacco Commission Chief Executive Officer Dr Joseph Chidanti-Malunga says the regulator is hopeful for increased tobacco production in the 2023/2024 farming season. He expressed the sentiments in reaction to results of a November 2023 country-wide nursery assessment...
Parl. Committee commends TC on Access to Information
The Parliamentary Committee on Media, Information and Communications has commended the Tobacco Commission for orienting its staff on the Access to Information Act (ATIA). Speaking when she opened a one-day ATIA orientation workshop for the commission’s management 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.