{"id":67909,"date":"2018-07-03T08:16:01","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T06:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=67909"},"modified":"2018-07-03T08:16:04","modified_gmt":"2018-07-03T06:16:04","slug":"rewarding-toil-of-tobacco-farming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2018\/07\/03\/rewarding-toil-of-tobacco-farming\/","title":{"rendered":"Rewarding toil of tobacco farming"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY ALICK PONJE:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
STOP IT\u2014 A depiction of child labour in a play<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He wakes up at 4am, tends to his tobacco field, and then goes to the grass -thatched shade mounted just about two meters away from the farm.<\/p>\n

At the farm, the leaf is still green, and the outlook is promising.<\/p>\n

This has been Justin Kombe\u2019s daily routine each tobacco growing season for the past six years.<\/p>\n

The exploits have paid dividends; he is among hundreds of farmers who have been rewarded for simply doing the needful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grow tobacco under the Integrated Production System with Alliance One [Tobacco Company] through which I am able to get all the materials and other forms of support like extension services just like all other members of my club,\u201d Kombe says.<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cIt is clear that we have produced a lot of tobacco of good quality and we are going to make a lot of money. Yet, on top of that, Alliance One is rewarding us with bicycles for improved mobility in our tobacco business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently, the tobacco company handed over 71 bicycles to 20 farmers\u2019 clubs from Lilongwe East. The bicycles were valued at K4.7 million and were also part of Alliance One\u2019s initiative of overcoming hurdles in tobacco production.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s Corporate Affairs Manager, Fran Malila, says the contracted farmers who were awarded achieved milestones like increase in production and adhering to good agriculture practices and agriculture labour practices (ALP).<\/p>\n

\u201cOne problem that our contracted farmers have managed to address is that of child labour. It was widespread in tobacco farms, but through our engagements, it has been significantly reduced. We continue to engage them on the matter,\u201d Malila says.<\/p>\n

According to the Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, child labour in Malawi remains widespread as revealed by the 2015 Malawi National Child Labour Survey which found the prevalence rate to be at 38 percent or 2.1 million children aged between 5-17 years.<\/p>\n

The ministry\u2019s Principal Secretary, Joseph Mwandidya says such results show that Malawi needs to double her efforts to eliminate child labour as set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren and young people who are engaged in work that is inappropriate or too much for their age stand a higher risk of suffering injuries and contracting occupational diseases,\u201d Mwandidya warns.<\/p>\n

He adds that child labour results in low levels of education, training and experience; immaturity in reasoning and physiological damage.<\/p>\n

And Kombe is proud that he is among tobacco farmers who are circumventing such problems while also maximising production through the support they get.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur children are going to school, unlike in the past. It is a must within the contract with Alliance One that we should not use children in tobacco production,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Another aspect of Alliance One\u2019s interventions for fair tobacco production is the promotion of the respect of workers\u2019 rights which include fair wages.<\/p>\n

According to Godfrey Chimenya, the company\u2019s Social Services Coordinator, if workers are treated fairly, the production process becomes smooth and satisfies everyone.<\/p>\n

Chimenya also says apart from promoting good agriculture labour practices, the tobacco company goes further with its corporate social responsibility initiatives by supporting communities in need of various social services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are involved in education, where we are constructing school blocks and other structures. We are also engaged in water and sanitation services and the health sectors, among many others,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

And these do not benefit the company\u2019s contracted farmers only. That is why Kombe hopes that such interventions will continue so that more and more people benefit.<\/p>\n

While he would like to be rewarded again next year, he also hopes that others will improve their production and stand the chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ALICK PONJE: He wakes up at 4am, tends to his tobacco field, and then goes to the grass -thatched shade mounted just about two meters away from the farm. At the farm, the leaf is still green, and the outlook is promising. This has been Justin Kombe\u2019s daily routine each tobacco growing season for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":67910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67912,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67909\/revisions\/67912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}