A new rate offer had purposed MALAWI Savings Bank (MSB) to tobacco growers. Malawi Savings Bank (MSB) is a total state propriety and has 39 branches across the country in addition to 12 agencies that operate in Post Office branches.

This offer consists of high interest rates on fixed deposit that was initiated for encouraging tobacco industry. This proposal was offered officially recently on 25 April as a profitable way of saving money for next season.

As result of promotion growers would get 6.5 per cent interest on six months fixed deposit account up from 6 per cent. Bank officials offered some details about reason of proposed this offer: “We are rewarding tobacco growers and we want to encourage them to save money in preparation for next year’s season”. This was stated by Sylvia Nankwenya MSB business development and marketing manager.

Also, she added: “The message we want to send out is that if tobacco growers’ deal with us it would be easy for them to access our numerous products.”

Such kind of promotions launched by MALAWI Savings Bank isn’t new. Last year MSB together with Limbe Leaf Company offered inputs for tobacco growers.

This promotion already shows positive results. As maintain MSB micro-finance manager George Sibale, they offered inputs to 40 tobacco growers in Kasungu and that so far most of them had started repaying their loans. Additionally, Sibale affirmed: “This is in line with our mission of linking small scale agriculture players to traditional banking services.”

Fact of encouraging and offering financial proposal to tobacco growers will demonstrate positive results, and it can be presupposed that passing time number of those that appeal on this “hand of help” will grow and this will result positively improving of this sector. “We leaf our partners [Limbe Leaf] to do extension work as they have expertise in that field,” Sibale said.

Reason why Malawi Savings Bank invested properly in tobacco field explained Sibale: “ ” We can not deny the fact that tobacco is our key forex earner and that maize is a strategic crop in terms of food security so as a bank whose mission is to support economic growth, we came up with these initiatives”.

Launching of this promotion was accompanied by a reward promotion. As uphold bank officials, first 100 customers that will open fixed account will automatically enter the competition and stand a chance to winning bicycles, wheel burrows and bags of fertilizer. Also, under the project, the bank gave each farmer fertilizer enough for five hectares of tobacco and five hectares of maize.