Balancing leaf tobacco supply and demand on a long-term basis is a herculean task, as Malawi has recently demonstrated. It has been so successful at reviving its previously-flagging leaf tobacco production levels that one type is this season in over-supply. Malawi is thought to have produced 127m kg of Burley this year, up from 102.8m kg last year. The bigger harvest will bring much relief. Burley is the most important type grown in Malawi and the low level of the 2003 crop, grown against a target of 135m-140m kg, caused concern. Demand for Malawi's Burley is high enough to make it the country's biggest foreign exchange earner, and it is grown largely by small-scale farmers who each plant less than I ha; so rt is vital economically, socially and politically.
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