MALAWI: Tobacco Season & more – 15th April 2025

Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 15th of April twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

The twenty twenty-four/ twenty twenty-five tobacco market season officially opened on Thursday the 10th in Lilongwe in the Central Region, but a lot of farmers there complained that the leaf was selling too cheaply.

Some farmers got three dollars per kilogram, but others were offered nearly a dollar per kilogram. Last year, the leaf sold for an average of two dollars. Farmers got so frustrated that some of them protested the prices and verbally attacked the buyers. They told local media that low tobacco prices meant they wouldn't make any profits.

Despite a rocky start, the government is hopeful that tobacco sales will improve, and that the yields will increase from 135 million kilograms in twenty twenty-four to 170 million kilograms this year.

Tobacco is very important for Malawi, as it generates over fifty percent of the country’s GDP.

The government set a new farm gate price for milk, from 500 Kwacha, which is about thirty US cents per liter, to 800 Kwacha, almost fifty US cents. This comes a few weeks after the government banned local milk imports, which we mentioned in previous episodes.

On Thursday the 10th, Saini Kapito, the Chairperson for the Shire Highlands Milk Producers Association, told local media that the milk imports ban created higher milk demand, and that the new farm gate price will help them make more money.

However, Bob Dzombe, the Director of the Malawi Dairy Industries, fears there may be a milk shortage because local farmers produce 100 liters per month, but the country’s demand is 400 liters. He also said higher farm gate prices will also cause local milk prices to increase.

The government has been slacking on its bill payments and service providers aren’t having it.

On Thursday the 10th, the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (or ESCOM) disconnected power at a government building in Blantyre in the Southern Region due to unpaid electricity bills that have now reached thirty-four million Kwacha, which is nearly twenty thousand dollars. The building is home to several government offices.

ESCOM told local news that the government allocates money to all its Ministries, Departments and Agencies to pay for utility bills, so having unpaid bills does not make sense.

On a similar note, The Blantyre Water Board went for the Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre and disconnected its water supply because of an outstanding bill of forty million Kwacha, which is about twenty-three thousand dollars. The Ministry of Youth and Sports said they will settle the debt this week.

The interesting thing is that there were major matches at the stadium last weekend even though there was no water supply. It is unclear whether the bill has been settled yet, but there are other football matches set for this coming weekend, raising concerns for hygiene and well-being of the fans.

The Parliament passed the Copyright Amendment Bill which will make significant changes in how intellectual property is managed in Malawi.

In a social media post shared on Monday the 14th, the Copyright Society of Malawi said the Bill will help in the creation of the Companies, Registration and Intellectual Property Center, which will function as a semi-autonomous government agency that will administer intellectual property rights.

The Copyright Society will no longer handle the administrative side of copyrights. It will only manage and promote the rights and royalties of creators, such as fair compensation for their work.

The Copyright Society said it will guide all creators and other stakeholders on how the changes will work out once the bill is made into law.

In other news, the country will have a new National State of the Environment and Outlook Report. The last time a similar report was published was in twenty ten, and experts in the field said they didn’t have a full picture of Malawi’s environmental standing.

On Saturday the 12th, the Director General of the Malawi Environment Protection Authority, said the document will be ready by this December, and that it is crucial in helping policymakers, researchers and the general public identify what’s going wrong and what should be fixed.

According to local news, the report assesses the quality and current trends in land, air, water, and biodiversity.

The Malawi Revenue Authority (or MRA) has completed its Integrated Tax Administration System, known as Msonkho Online. This marks a key milestone in ongoing fiscal reforms, such as the public finance management reforms that are part of the agreement between the government and the International Monetary Fund.

On Monday the 14th, the MRA Acting Director of Corporate Affairs, said that the rollout has improved tax compliance and collection significantly. She said that over ninety percent of large taxpayers are now able to file their taxes online, instead of visiting the MRA offices. She said small and medium taxpayers are lagging behind, but that the MRA is helping them adopt digital tax filing.

In more digital developments, the Standard Bank launched the Yours 247 digital campaign to help its customers in both rural and urban areas access its services easily.

On Thursday the 10th, the CEO for Standard Bank said the platform will help promote financial inclusion, since it has features that users with basic mobile phones can access, even in remote areas and without internet access.

He said their campaign will help customers to manage their bank accounts, apply for loans, track their finances and make bulk payments on their phones.

This development is important for Malawi because it tackles issues of digital access, which is quite low.

Malawi is set to have its first amusement park this year. On Thursday the 10th, Jacob Hara, the Minister of Transport and Public Works, told local media that the Kukuye Amusement in Lilongwe will be the first of its kind in the country, and that it will be one of the best amusement parks in Africa. The Ministry expects it to boost local tourism.

According to Hara, they have spent nearly five billion Kwacha, which is almost 3 million dollars, on constructing the park and ensuring they use the best equipment. He said it will be finalised and ready for public use by May.

Four political parties, the People’s Party, the Freedom Party, the People’s Development Party, and the Malawi Forum for Unity and Development, have formed an electoral alliance ahead of the September presidential elections. However, on Wednesday the 9th, the Secretary General for the People’s Party said they are yet to discuss and agree on who is going to lead the alliance.

Some social media comments show that many aren’t moved by this alliance. Some said the combination of these parties holds no weight against the biggest parties such as the Democratic Progressive Party or the United Transformation Movement.

In trending news, on Sunday the 13th, Nyokase “Kas” Madise, a local art activist and musician, shared a statement on her Facebook profile, saying she will be going on a bold and historic journey from Malawi to Egypt on foot and via hitchhiking on the 6th of July. Her journey is called Nyokase’s Walk To Egypt and will last five months.

She will pass through Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan, and make her final stop at Egypt’s Giza. She told local media that this is a bold call for youth hope, Pan-African freedom, and mental health awareness.

The twenty-nine year old is following the footsteps of Legson Kayira, a local literary legend, who walked from Chitipa in the Northern Region to Sudan in nineteen fifty-eight.

More on musicians, as on Sunday the 13th, Patience Namadingo decided to repair some damaged ambulances at the Mangochi District Hospital.

On Monday the 14th, Namadingo wrote on social media that he was disappointed that he couldn’t meet any authorities at the hospital. He said the Director of Health Services didn’t pick up his phone that morning and wasn’t in his office when Namadingo arrived at the hospital at 2 PM. He only managed to meet them on Tuesday the 15th, after his social media rant received attention.

The whole situation was put into question on social media, with some users saying most government offices were incompetent. However, others said Namadingo should have followed protocol and booked an appointment.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Did you know that the Rorshok Malawi Update is just one of many? We’ve got country updates, and non-county updates, including the Arctic Update, about the area north of the Arctic Circle, the Multilateral Update, about the world’s major multilateral institutions, and the Ocean Update, about the 70% of the world covered in salt water.

To check out the full list of updates, follow the link in the show notes!

Pitani bwino!