President Peter Mutharika made a plea to buyers to pay fair prices to growers as the marketing season opened with leaf bringing up to USD 1.84 (EUR 1.62) per kilogram, the Nyasa Times said.

Mutharika warned against what he termed a repeat of the practise of paying cosmetically high amounts at the onset of marketing season, the newspaper said. “Every year we discuss tobacco prices which you implement on (the) first day and abandon later,” Mutharika reportedly said.