Vice President, Saulos Chilima, has lauded Limbe Leaf Tobacco Company for embarking on a commercial forestry plantation initiative on four leased farms in Kasungu.
He says the initiative is important as it is complementing government’s efforts of planting more trees.
Chilima made the remarks on Wednesday when he tour e d the plantation.
“We need to ensure that the forest resources are sustained by replacing trees. The tobacco industry relies on wood. Limbe Leaf is demonstrating to us that it took heed of the president’s call to plant trees. Other stakeholders should emulate this gesture,” Chilima said.
Speaking at the function, Limbe Leaf Managing Director, Rodney Hagger, highlighted the importance of trees in the tobacco industry.
“We are cognisant of the fact that Malawi’s forests are under threat. Our industry has a long history in this country. Malawi is the biggest producer of burley tobacco in the world.
We also produce other tobacco crops such as flue-cured and dark-fired. They all require wood as fuel for energy or for building structures and other uses,” Hagger said.
While saying the industry has had a negative impact on the country’s forests, Hagger said the company decided to do something about the situation.
“Our job as a responsible investor is to minimise that and do the right thing for our business and that of our partners … One might say it’s too late but it’s never too late. The key focus for the tobacco industry is to ensure that move into a more compliant and sustainable era,” Hagger said.
The company has planted over one million trees since March 2015 to support flue-cured smallholder tobacco production.
Currently, the company has invested almost US$1.6 million (about K1.2 billion) in the project.
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