Tobacco farming in Malawi was in the 2004-05 season done on 106,469 ha. Approximately 72% of the population depends on tobacco and tobacco-related activities. Tobacco is the major foreign exchange earner for Malawi accounting for more than 60% of the foreign exchange inflows. About 23% of government taxes also come from tobacco and tobacco-related activities. Despite the importance and magnitude of burley tobacco farming in Malawi, the producers face a lot of problems when producing this single most important cash crop. For burley tobacco the availability and affordability of farm inputs like fertiliser is one of the major problems. Usually the fertiliser that is available on the open market (for burley) is not appropriate for tobacco, but in the rare cases where an appropriate fertiliser is available, it is usually too expensive for the farmers who have just been paid 'peanuts' during the last growing season.
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