Tobacco Makes Malawi's Economy More Vulnerable

The European Union (EU) has warned that too much dependency on tobacco farming has made Malawi's economy so vulnerable.

The alarm was sounded by Head of  EU in Malawi Alexander Baum.

Baum however said that diversifying crop production is the only solution to help the economy to rebound from the current crisis. 

"The reality of Malawi's economic situation today is that agriculture has played the role it could play. Agriculture has not reached the potential we all know exists.There is too much dependency on tobacco which has made the economy vulnerable to external shocks" said Baum

Tobacco is the most important export crop in Malawi which accounts for about 70 percent of export revenues.  and over 2 million people are employed from related industries

However Malawi's heavy reliance on tobacco places a heavy burden on the economy as world prices continue to decline and the international community are putting pressure to limit tobacco production.