MALAWI’S chief money-spinner, the tobacco industry, said on Tuesday it had formed an association to eliminate child labour on tobacco farms. Amin Mponda-Lungu, vice-president of the Tobacco Association of Malawi (Tama), said the association had been formed to fight “this evil practice” after Malawi was found to be the worst offender in the region. Mponda-Lungu said the Association for the Elimination of Child Labour (AECL) would respond to an international outcry over the practice. The minimum working age in Malawi is 14. Employing under-age children is punishable by a fine of nearly $300, or five years in jail. However, authorities have not enforced these laws or kept records on the prevalence of child labour in the tobacco industry, the nation’s largest employer of around one million people. Poverty, which affects over 65% of Malawi’s 11-million people, drives children to seek jobs on tobacco estates. Malawi’s burley tobacco, called “green gold” here, accounts for up to 70% of the country’s foreign currency earnings. – AFP