Malawi has cut its 2008 tobacco production forecast by about 3 percent due to the expected impact of heavy rains on the crop, which accounts for almost three-quarters of the southern African nation's exports.
In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Henderson Chimoyo of the government's Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) said Malawi expected to produce 145 million kg of burley and flue-cured tobacco this year.
The previous forecast, last updated in January before torrential rains engulfed Malawi and several other southern African nations, was for 150 million kg. Total production for 2007 was 140 million kg.
Malawi is the world's biggest producer of burley tobacco, which is used primarily in the production of cigarettes.
"This is all because of too much rain the country is experiencing, and, of course, the challenges in the distribution of fertilisers to tobacco farmers have compounded the problem," said Chimoyo, the TCC's operations and technical manager.
Plentiful rains are essential for tobacco cultivation, but the unrelenting rains in Malawi in recent weeks have triggered floods that have washed away crops and left others waterlogged and prone to disease.
About 2 million Malawians, or roughly 15 percent of the population, depend upon tobacco and related industries for their livelihood.
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