Blantyre, Malawi — Agriculture Minister Aleke Banda has said that there will be no repetition of the obstacles imposed during the last two years on the processing of Mozambican tobacco in Malawi.

Banda told The Malawi Insider in an interview that the agreement he has signed with his Mozambican counterpart, Helder Muteia, has solved the problem definitively.

"We have good relations of cooperation with Mozambique", he said. "I was in Maputo and we signed an agreement to regulate cross-border trade, not only in tobacco, but also in other goods."

He added: "But it was certainly tobacco that created most problems."

Banda explained that it was necessary to bear in mind that both Malawi and Mozambique are tobacco producing countries who do business with international tobacco companies that act according to their own rules.

The intention of both countries, Banda stressed, was to eliminate problems, and this would involve the establishment of national organisations of tobacco producers.

In 2001, the Malawian government banned the entry of foreign tobacco.

This made it impossible for Mozambican producers to process their tobacco in Malawi, until President Bakili Muluzi was persuaded to intervene and reverse the ban.

This year the Malawi government imposed a surcharge of 10 per cent on all foreign tobacco entering the country, a move which caused outrage on the Mozambican side of the border, and was cancelled after two weeks.

Asked about the hunger situation in Malawi, Banda confirmed that at least 3.3 million Malawians are in need of food aid. He said that government is doing all it could do to provide food aid to the most vulnerable people.

Key to Malawi's relief operation is the Mozambican port of Nacala, and the Nacala-Malawi railway.

It is hoped that the line will move 237,000 metric tonnes of grain to Malawi over nine months.