Category: Leaf

  • Special Report: Diversifying Malawi’s Economy

    Special Report: Diversifying Malawi’s Economy

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Depending on the season and on who you ask, tobacco accounts for between 40 and 70 percent of Malawi’s export earnings.

    In a good season, the golden leaf generates a relative level of wealth in the countryside and earns the nation much-needed foreign currency to import the products and services it cannot produce at home.

    In a bad season, there will be poverty in the villages.

    Read our special report to learn how Malawi is diversifying to make its economy more resilient and prepare for a future with less tobacco.

    Back to Normal

    Following a record low harvest in 2022, Malawi has produced a more typical crop this season.

    Malawi Earnings Up

    The nation has already authorized 60.2 million kg for next season, almost triple that at the same time last year.

    Tobacco Earnings Jump

    Malawi has made 83 percent more from leaf sales to date this year than it did in the comparable 2023 period.

    Malawi Devalues

    The nation has been struggling with dwindling foreign currency reserves due in part to declining revenue from tobacco exports.

  • Broadening the Base

    Broadening the Base

    Photos: Taco Tuinstra

    Malawi seeks to reduce its heavy dependence on tobacco.

    By Taco Tuinstra

    The impacts of Malawi’s balance-of-trade crisis were visible in late March even to an infrequent Western visitor who could afford to stay at an upscale hotel. Certain items on the room service menu were consistently out of stock, for example, while getting around Lilongwe required queuing for gasoline and hoping the petrol station would not run dry before the driver reached the pump.

    Because Malawi imports more goods and services than it exports, it suffers a chronic shortage of hard currency. In 2020, the latest year for which figures are available, the country’s import bill was $2.8 billion, versus exports of only $800 million, according to the National Statistics Office. With not enough U.S. dollars to pay for imports, many foreign-made goods were simply unavailable.

    For Malawi’s well-heeled international guests, the shortages represent mere inconveniences. Upon return to their home countries, they will be able to generously make up for the missed food items and travel without worrying about fuel. For the average Malawian, however, the trade deficit represents a real problem. Among other things, the dearth of foreign currency prevented the nation from importing enough fertilizer for its Maize and other crops this year, spelling trouble for food security and social cohesion. While Malawi was peaceful during Tobacco Reporter’s visit in late March, some feared civil unrest. “It’s coming,” warned an industry veteran.

    Visit the countryside in April/May, and you will see how people’s lives change when the tobacco markets open. If the markets fail, however, there will be poverty in the villages.

    Nixon Lita, CEO, TAMA Farmer’s Trust

    One cause of Malawi’s economic problems is the fact that it relies too heavily on a single commodity. Tobacco accounts for between 12 percent and 15 percent of Malawi’s gross domestic product and between 40 percent and 70 percent of export earnings, depending on who you ask and on the season. Cultivation alone employs nearly half a million people, according to the Tobacco Commission, which regulates the trade. Those figures make Malawi the world’s most tobacco-dependent country.

    They also leave Malawi vulnerable to factors outside its control, including climate change and global cigarette sales. “Visit the countryside in April/May, and you will see how people’s lives change when the tobacco markets open,” says Nixon Lita, CEO of the TAMA Farmers Trust, describing the influx of cash at the start of each selling season. “If the markets fail, however, there will be poverty in the villages.”

    Last year is a case in point. Due to unfavorable climate conditions during the growing season, Malawi produced only 85.09 million kg of tobacco in 2022—the lowest volume in a decade, according to the Tobacco Commission. Despite higher per-kilo prices than in 2021, farmers earned just $182.12 million from their leaf sales last year. The reduced inflow of foreign currency in 2022 has left Malawi struggling even harder than usual to import essential items. The money made from this season’s larger crop (see “Back to Normal”) is unlikely to make up for the shortfall.

    Malawi’s overreliance on tobacco will become an even greater problem as global cigarette consumption stagnates. Already, the country’s leaf sales are down considerably from only a few years ago. Between 2016 and 2021, tobacco exports in real terms dropped by 42 percent, according to the World Bank. While local merchants are confident that Malawian burley—the country’s predominant tobacco variety—will continue to find buyers in the near future (see “Enduring Demand“), they are acutely aware that the industry should start preparing for a future with less tobacco, especially as the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control measures to discourage cigarette consumption start to bite.

    Malawi tobacco growers benefit from structured markets, which give them access to customers worldwide. Such infrastructure does not exist for many of the country’s other commodities. The video shows leaf being auctioned at the Lilongwe sales floors.

    Spreading the Risk

    To broaden Malawi’s economic base, stakeholders have stepped up efforts to develop other sectors. The TAMA Farmers Trust, for example, expanded its mandate in 2019. Originally established to represent only tobacco farmers, the organization is now helping its members produce other crops as well. Tobacco merchants such as Limbe Leaf Tobacco Co. (LLTC) and Alliance One Tobacco Malawi (AOTM), too, are encouraging diversification. Leveraging their existing farmer-support structures, they are now also disseminating inputs and agronomic advice for nontobacco crops to their contracted growers.

    Another big push comes from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), which is an independent U.S. nonprofit organization that is funded by annual gifts from PMI Global Services. Established to “end smoking in this generation,” the FSFW focuses its grantmaking and charitable activities in three categories: health and science research aimed at helping smokers quit or switch to less harmful products, industry transformation and agricultural diversification.

    We should not make the same mistake as with tobacco by developing just one value chain.

    Candida Nakhumwa, vice president and Malawi country director, Foundation for a Smoke-Free World

    The foundation’s agricultural diversification objectives include ensuring that smallholder farmers in Malawi impacted by the declining demand for tobacco are supported to find sustainable alternative livelihoods. To advance these objectives, the FSFW has made grants to set up two institutions—the Centre for Agricultural Transformation (CAT), a science, business and technology incubation hub, and the MwAPATA Institute, an independent agricultural policy think tank that conducts research to inform and improve agricultural-related policies.

    Candida Nakhumwa, FSFW vice president and country director in Malawi, stresses the importance of developing multiple value chains simultaneously. “We should not make the same mistake as with tobacco by developing just one,” she says. In selecting alternative commodities, Nakhumwa urges Malawi to prioritize both exports and import substitution. “We are spending precious foreign exchange on importing things that we should be producing domestically,” she says. “For example, we can make cooking oil from soya beans or sunflower and use that as an import substitute.” Soya beans and sunflower, along with traditional Malawi crops such as groundnuts, also enjoy growing demand internationally, representing export potential.

    For crops like soya bean, sunflower and bananas to succeed, Malawi will need to replicate some of the factors that have allowed tobacco to thrive, notably infrastructure and a deliberate focus on productivity

    Building Markets

    For crops like soya bean, sunflower and groundnuts to succeed, however, Malawi will need to replicate some of the factors that have allowed tobacco to thrive, notably infrastructure and a deliberate focus on productivity. Over the years, the Malawi government gave lots of support to tobacco at the expense of other crops that also had potential, according to Nakhumwa. As a result, the markets for those other value chains remain underdeveloped.

    “The fact that tobacco has a structured market in Malawi, with auction floors and contracting companies, means that leaf growers have access to buyers worldwide—something that is not necessarily the case for producers of other crops,” says Nakhumwa. Without a structured market, producers of nontobacco crops will simply be trading in Malawi kwacha instead of earning hard currency on the global market.

    A structured market also gives confidence to financiers. “Tobacco farmers are not paid in cash; they receive their payments through the bank—so the lenders know they will recover whatever they loaned to the farmer,” says Nakhumwa. Access to finance in turn means access to agricultural inputs, including inorganic fertilizers, which are imported.

    In addition, tobacco has benefited from research and agronomic advice, both through the leaf merchants and the government’s Agricultural Research and Extension Service Trust. Such services have historically been provided at much lower levels to other crops, although this is starting to change as stakeholders adjust to evolving market conditions.

    Due to suboptimal agricultural practices, nontobacco farmers in Malawi are producing at only 30 percent to 40 percent of their potential, according to Nakhumwa. The country’s soils suffer from high acidity and low nutrient levels. These can be fixed using both organic and inorganic fertilizers. However, with commercial banks charging interest rates of 20 percent to 30 percent, tools to improve the soil, such as agricultural lime and inorganic fertilizer, remain out of reach for many smallholder farmers.

    Low productivity means that even though there is demand for Malawi’s nontobacco crops, the country is in many cases unable to satisfy it sustainably. “When a customer in South Africa signs a forward contract, he will want assurance that the goods are going to be delivered consistently,” says Nakhumwa. “If we can supply for only two months and then run dry, we are no longer an attractive supplier for them. The customers may in that case prefer to deal with a seller in Brazil or elsewhere who can guarantee supply.” This is why the FSFW is focusing on enhancing productivity at the farmer level and creating new markets through the CAT.

    At a demonstration farm on the outskirts of Lilongwe the CAT offers a platform for private sector partners to showcase technologies to help farmers optimize their operations.

    Strengthening Skills, Raising Productivity and Creating New Markets

    The CAT aims to boost agricultural productivity through science, technology and innovation while helping innovators turn their ideas into sustainable agribusinesses to create new markets for the alternative commodities produced by smallholders. At a demonstration farm on the outskirts of Lilongwe, the organization offers a platform for a wide range of private sector partners to showcase technologies to help farmers optimize their operations.

    Alongside technologies such as irrigation and ground sensors, the farm features different varieties of maize, groundnut, soya beans, rice and sunflower, among other crops. It also works with agronomists to transfer knowledge: What happens if you plant 10 cm apart or practice double-row planting? What happens if you tweak the amount of fertilizer? According to CAT Executive Director Macleod Nkhoma, such demonstration plots are an effective way to disseminate information to smallholder farmers and promote the adoption of technology, especially in a country with low literacy rates like Malawi.

    In addition to its work on the farm, the CAT helps agricultural entrepreneurs with skills that enable them to access finance and grow their agribusinesses while providing markets to smallholder farmers. “Banks tend to be wary of unstructured markets,” says Macleod. “They view those value chains as very risky.” By supporting the development of these agribusinesses, the CAT helps them to become bankable.

    Already, the center has supported several agricultural ventures, including a project by Hortinet that seeks to reinvigorate Malawi’s dormant banana business through tissue culture (see “From Imports to Orchards”) and an initiative by JAT Investments, which aims to replace the button mushrooms that are currently imported into Malawi with domestically cultivated varieties (see “Fungi Fever“).

    The CAT is helping Hortinet to expand its farmer base from 200 to 700 contracted growers. “Without CAT’s support, we would not have had the capacity to supply that many growers with our banana plantlets,” says Hortinet Executive Director Frank Washoni. JAT Investments benefited from CAT assistance in procuring seeds (spawn) and infrastructure in support of mushroom production. “The CAT helped us procure seed, infrastructure and training, allowing us to grow our growers’ network from two to seven farmers club.” says JAT Investments Operations Director Temwani Gunda. “It we had to work on our own, it would have taken much longer.”

    In terms of weight, Alliance One Tobacco Malawi’s contracted farmers already produce four times more food than tobacco.

    Simon Peverelle, managing director, AOTM

    The Tone at the Top

    To live up to their potential, the nontobacco crops will also need better policy frameworks. According to MwAPATA Executive Director William Chadza, export bans and foreign exchange quota currently disincentivize production. “Farmers are often unable to access hard currency to import agricultural inputs in time for the growing season,” he says. In addition, some government market interventions, frequent policy reversals and the unpredictable business environment limit private investments in the agricultural sector. Contradictory policies relating to land and crops present a hurdle as well, according to Chadza.

    Encouragingly, Malawi’s leadership increasingly appreciates the need to broaden Malawi’s economic base. Whereas the government in the past may have been reluctant to acknowledge the changing situation on the global tobacco market, it now appears more cognizant of the new realities. At the opening of the 2022 marketing tobacco season, Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera openly called for a diversification strategy. “The tone at the top is important,” says Nakhumwa. “If the leaders cannot acknowledge that there is a problem and we need to pivot, stakeholders will not rally behind you.”

    Perhaps surprisingly to some, diversification has also been embraced by the tobacco industry. LLTC is supporting growers with certified food crop seeds grown on company farms in the Kasungu district while researching and developing other food crops for exports. It has collaborated with Feed the Future USAID and will be rolling out low-tech irrigation systems to boost productivity. AOTM has made a big bet on groundnuts (see “A Gamble on Goobers”), helping its contracted farmers increase yields and quality with improved varieties, farming equipment and agronomic advice. In March 2022, the company opened a groundnut processing facility in Lilongwe with the capacity to process 50,000 tons per year.

    It took us more than 50 years to develop the tobacco industry to where it is now,” he says. “There is no way other crops will all of a sudden replace tobacco.

    Joseph Malunga, CEO, Tobacco Commission

    The merchants’ investments in productivity, meanwhile, have enabled tobacco farmers to double their yields, allowing them to produce the same volumes of leaf on fewer hectares and release land for food and other cash crops. Tobacco industry leaders see no contradiction between their support for nontobacco crops and their primary business, arguing that farmer livelihood sustainability is in their interest. “Diversification makes sense,” says Simon Peverelle, managing director of AOTM. In terms of weight, he points out, the company’s contracted farmers already produce four times more food than tobacco.

    But even with government and industry behind diversification, it will take time for Malawi to overcome its heavy reliance on tobacco. Tobacco Commission CEO Joseph Malunga believes the golden leaf will remain a major crop in Malawi for years to come. “It took us more than 50 years to develop the tobacco industry to where it is now,” he says. “There is no way other crops will all of a sudden replace tobacco.”

    Nonetheless, Malunga acknowledges that Malawi needs to spread its eggs over more than one basket. “It is dangerous for us as a country to rely on one thing because if something goes wrong, you are definitely in trouble,” he says. Rather than looking for commodities to replace tobacco, however, Malunga urges Malawi to promote crops that work alongside it, just like the leaf merchants have been integrating food crops into their tobacco operations.

    Malawi has a long way to go, but through the combination of government, industry and nonprofit initiatives currently underway, it should be able to gradually develop a more diverse economy with multiple crops and livestock generating income, so that a bad season in one sector won’t automatically reverberate across the entire country. The stakes are high, witnessed by the economic difficulties in the wake of last year’s short tobacco crop. Success will mean not only greater food security but also more hard currency to import the items that Malawi cannot produce at home. With luck, it may even boost tourism, as the country’s struggling hospitality sector will be able to stock more of the items its foreign customers expect.

    Taco Tuinstra is Tobacco Reporter’s editorial director.Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, he coordinates the work of staff writers and contributors.On his watch, Tobacco Reporter has won several awards for editorial excellence.Since joining the magazine in 1997, Taco has visited more than 75 countries to meet industry representatives in their markets and to report tobacco news firsthand.
  • Enduring Demand

    Enduring Demand

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Malawi burley remains popular even as global smoking rates stagnate

    Even as cigarette sales stagnate in many markets, demand for Malawi burley remains robust. An important component in the toolbox of the tobacco blender, burley is a key ingredient not only in the popular American blend cigarettes but also in roll-your-own and make-your-own products along with pipe tobaccos.

    Due to last year’s short crop, leaf merchants are anticipating strong interest this season. In 2022, the country produced only 69.2 million kg of burley—against an estimated demand of 150 million kg. This year, the Tobacco Commission is expecting 106 million kg.

    While burley is produced in several countries, including in southeastern Africa, industry representatives are confident that Malawi can hold its own against other suppliers. “Malawi is still a preferred origin of burley,” says Joseph Malunga, chief executive of the Tobacco Commission. “Even regionally, our burley is better than that from other origins.”

    Malunga suspects that demand for Malawi burley will increase as the country tackles concerns raised by customers about agricultural labor methods. Traditional rural African practices, such as tenancy, in which a farmer provides workers with food and housing during the season but pays them only after the harvest, or requiring children to help out on the family farm, are frowned upon in Western countries where many tobacco buyers are headquartered.

    The commission has done a lot to communicate what customers want, but some farmers will get the message very late. It will be a gradual transition.

    Joseph Malunga, CEO, Tobacco Commission

    Tobacco companies have been pressuring their suppliers to abandon these habits, and in 2019 the Malawi government banned tenancy. Leading buyers of Malawi leaf have systems in place that not only prohibit their contracted growers from deploying children or tenants but also include elaborate verification mechanisms. In 2020, such systems helped Limbe Leaf, Alliance One International and Premium Tobacco Malawi quickly convince U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) that their supply chains were free of forced labor when the agency temporarily prevented Malawi tobacco from entering the United States based on concerns about forced labor. Impressed by the leaf merchants’ responsible supply chain management, CPB swiftly lifted its ban on tobacco imported by those companies.

    Recognizing the progress made, some customers who left due to compliance issues are now coming back, according to Malunga. “They see that we have been doing our homework.”

    But while the tobacco produced under contract with leaf merchants generally complies with the standards expected by Western governments and customers, the picture is less clear for the independently cultivated tobacco sold at auction, which accounts for approximately 10 percent of Malawi tobacco production.

    The country’s tobacco industry is dominated by smallholder farming. With nearly half a million individuals cultivating leaf in Malawi, many of them living in remote areas and many of them illiterate, it will take a while for the message to reach everybody. “We have made big strides—to the extent of having laws,” says Malunga. “But you cannot expect these practices to stop overnight. The commission has done a lot to communicate what customers want, but some farmers will get the message very late. It will be a gradual transition.”

    Don McAlpin, managing director of Limbe Leaf Tobacco Co., which is affiliated with Universal Corp., hopes the change will come sooner than later. For Malawi to maintain its appeal on the global market, it will be essential for the noncontracted growers to meet ESG targets, he says. “Any perceived concerns about sustainability or ESG issues in Malawi create a reputational risk to the Malawi brand and could impact Malawi tobacco regardless of the percentage that is contracted and compliant.” –T.T.

  • Back to Normal

    Back to Normal

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Following a record low harvest in 2022, Malawi has produced a more typical crop this season.

    After last year’s short crop, the Malawi tobacco trade is looking forward to more normal volumes this season. Typically, Malawi’s rainy season starts in November/December, but in 2022, the rains came much later, delaying the growing season by two months to three months.

    The drought coincided with transplanting in Malawi, causing a good percentage of the tobacco to dry out. Farmers contracted with one prominent leaf merchant alone suffered 35 percent plant mortality. As a result of the adverse weather conditions, Malawi produced 85 million kg of leaf last year—the lowest volume in a decade, according to the Tobacco Commission.

    This season, by contrast, is looking more promising. The trade is anticipating some 128 million kg of leaf, closer to the normal figure of 130 million kg. Burley accounts for most of the volume (81 percent), followed by flue-cured Virginia (16 percent) and dark air-cured tobacco (3 percent). Initial surveys indicate a good quality leaf as well.

    Nixon Lita

    Industry representatives cite favorable weather during the growing season, with rain falling in the right places at the right times and in the right volumes—until Tropical Cyclone Freddy struck southern Africa. The system—the longest-lasting on record—pulled warm air from the Intertropical Convergence Zone and the Congo over the southern and central parts of Malawi for much of February and March, resulting in perpetual overcast and rainy conditions in those regions. When it hit Malawi on March 11, it brought torrential rains and gale force winds, dumping up to 300 mm of rain in a 24-hour period. Cyclone Freddy caused massive landslides and flooding, killing more than 1,000 Malawians. Tobacco companies have been contributing to relief efforts through the Tobacco Processors Association.

    But while the storm devastated lives and infrastructure, it largely spared Malawi’s tobacco crop, and the market opened as scheduled on April 12. That is because most Malawi tobacco is grown in the country’s central and northern regions whereas the storm hit hardest in the south. According to Nixon Lita, chief executive of the TAMA Farmers Trust, the little tobacco that is grown in southern Malawi matures earlier than the leaf produced in the central and northern regions. “By the time the cyclone hit, many farmers had already reaped their tobacco,” he says.

    Despite the increased volumes, Malawi will still fail to meet demand (see “Enduring Demand“), which is estimated at 150 million kg this year. According to Lita, it’s hard to double production in 12 months, especially with the significantly higher cost of production (see “Coping with the COP”) this year. If burley shortage results in good prices, as predicted, it should encourage more farmers to plant tobacco next year. –T.T.

  • Coping with the COP

    Coping with the COP

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Like their counterparts around the world, tobacco growers in Malawi have suffered from the rapidly rising cost of production. In addition to domestic headline inflation of 26 percent, farmers had to contend with a significant increase in the price of fertilizer, which more than tripled over the past three years to four years. According to Nixon Lita, CEO of the TAMA Farmers Trust, this was due more to Covid-19-related shipping disruptions than to the war in Ukraine. Traditionally oriented toward the West, Malawi imports most of its fertilizers from the Middle East rather than eastern Europe, he says—but the result is the same as for countries relying on Russian and Ukrainian fertilizers: substantially higher prices.

    Because virtually all inputs for Malawi tobacco production are imported, there’s little the industry can do about this part of the equation—so it focuses on the factors it can control. Contracted farmers enjoy an advantage over their noncontracted colleagues because they benefit from the tobacco buyers’ scale and global reach. “Due to bulk buying, we can get fertilizer on time in Malawi and price it competitively for farmers,” says Simon Peverelle, managing director of Alliance One Tobacco Malawi. “For auction growers, that is harder.”

    The other way to offset rising production costs is by boosting farmers’ incomes. “We try to negotiate with our buyers, asking them to increase the farmers’ margins based on cost of production,” says Joseph Malunga, chief executive of the Tobacco Commission. “That doesn’t always go well because the buyers, too, are in business and want profit—but we try.”

    Under pressure from their customers to control costs, the merchants prefer to focus on boosting output. The leading leaf dealers employ or contract significant agronomy departments to help their contracted growers maximize both the quality and the yield of their tobacco, which in turn improves the net return on their crops, according to Don McAlpin, managing director of Limbe Leaf Tobacco Co. Size matters in this regard. Peverelle says that scaling up is necessary for farmers because it is increasingly difficult to earn a living income from smaller plots.

    The Tobacco Commission, meanwhile, is promoting natural solutions to improve farmers’ margins. For example, it encourages flue-cured tobacco farmers to establish woodlots and use “live barns”—curing facilities built using living trees—so they don’t have to buy wood for curing or construction. “This not only reduces costs but also promotes sustainable development,” says Malunga.—T.T.

  • ITGA Counters Tobaccco Growing Myths

    ITGA Counters Tobaccco Growing Myths

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    As the World Health Organization marks World No Tobacco Day today, the International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA) is “celebrating” World Understanding Tobacco Farming Day.

    On behalf of the organization’s members worldwide, ITGA President José Javier Aranda is calling on the sector to counter some of the claims by the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) made during World No Tobacco Day.

    “It is time to stand up together and request the support of governments against the demonization of our sector,” said Aranda. “For more than 15 years, tobacco growing and growers have been subjected to incorrect arguments that put tobacco farming as the main enemy to all sustainable development goals.

    According to Aranda, the WHO ignores the evidence. “The reality is that no viable alternatives to tobacco growing have been found and the implementation of WHO FCTC Article 17 (economically sustainable alternatives to tobacco growing) has not provided any tangible results,” he said.

    “This is due to the exclusion of the main actors in this debate—the tobacco growers. We will never achieve sustainable transition, where growers’ livelihoods are guaranteed, if we don’t look at the issue from all relevant perspectives.”

    It is time to stand up together and request the support of governments against the demonization of our sector.

    José Javier Aranda, president, ITGA

    As part of its campaign, the ITGA is publishing information about the tobacco sector, including its socio-economic impact and importance for local communities.

    According to the ITGA, many tobacco growers have already diversified their production. Crop rotation is a standard routine for farmers around the world. However, diversification is not an option for most cases as market realities and the funding required to move away to other economically viable crops are not there.

    A much-touted WHO diversification pilot project in Kenya, has no meaningful significance in the global context, as it accounts for only 0,0005 percent of the total tobacco production, according to the ITGA. “To reach pragmatic solutions for most tobacco growers, farmers must be included in the debate,” the group wrote in a statement.

    “The ITGA calls on governments to protect tobacco farmers and consider all arguments during meetings when decisions about growers’ future are being made. Governments have to make sure these discussions are inclusive. “If this had been the case in the last 17 years, since the working group for Articles 17 and 18 started, the evolution in the sustainable transition to other crops would be in a much more advanced stage.”

    On its website, the ITGA has crafted retorts to common criticisms of the sector. For example, in response to the frequently aired accusation that tobacco growing is bad for the environment, the ITGA points out that tobacco covers only 0.25 percent of the world’s cultivated land. In response to the claim that tobacco growing is bad for growers’ health, it points out that the only health risk unique to tobacco crops is green tobacco sickness—a condition that is easily avoided with proper attire and training.

  • Fiji Tobacco Farming Increasing

    Fiji Tobacco Farming Increasing

    Mangrove plantation in Fiji
    Image: Chelsea | Adobe Stock

    Tobacco farming in Fiji is increasing, according to FBC News.

    With tobacco cultivation taking only three months in Fiji, many farmers are turning to the crop as an easier, faster agricultural endeavor. BAT offers support for tobacco farming in the area as well.

    “Before, it’s really doing cash crop from the farm and then load it and take it to the market and sell, but this one, it’s different; the market is there,” said one farmer.

    Tobacco farming is significantly easier than traditional sugar cane farming, according to another farmer. “Sugar cane farming is very hard. This one [tobacco] is only 3 [months to] 4 months, 4 months finished, which is a good, big amount.”

    BAT offers access to quality seeds and modern farming techniques as well as training programs and knowledge-sharing initiatives. BAT employs more than 300 farmers across Fiji.

  • WHO Urges End to Tobacco Subsidies

    WHO Urges End to Tobacco Subsidies

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    The World Health Organization is urging governments to stop subsidizing tobacco farming and support more sustainable crops that could feed millions.

    “Tobacco is responsible for 8 million deaths a year, yet governments across the world spend millions supporting tobacco farms,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement ahead of World No Tobacco Day on May 31.

    “By choosing to grow food instead of tobacco, we prioritize health, preserve ecosystems and strengthen food security for all.”

    According to the WHO, more than 300 million people globally are faced with acute food insecurity. Meanwhile more than 3 million hectares of land across more than 120 countries are being used to grow tobacco.

    “Tobacco is not only a massive threat to food insecurity, but health overall, including the health of tobacco farmers. Farmers are exposed to chemical pesticides, tobacco smoke and as much nicotine as found in 50 cigarettes—leading to illnesses like chronic lung conditions and nicotine poisoning,” said Ruediger Krech, director of health promotion at the WHO.

    In response to such criticisms, the International Tobacco Growers Association recently posted retorts to common misconceptions of the sector.

    For example, in response to the frequently aired accusation that tobacco growing is bad for the environment, the ITGA points out that tobacco covers only 0.25 percent of the world’s cultivated land. In response to the claim that tobacco growing is bad for growers’ health, it points out that the only health risk unique to tobacco crops is green tobacco sickness—a condition that is easily avoided with proper attire and training.

    The ITGA also addresses criticisms about farmer debt and child labor on its website.

     

  • Malawi Earns $64 Million From Tobacco

    Malawi Earns $64 Million From Tobacco

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Malawi has earned $64 million from tobacco sales since the markets opened on May 12, reports the Nyasa Times.

    According to AHL Tobacco Sales, which among other enterprises operates the Lilongwe tobacco sales floors, farmers have sold 30.09 million kg of leaf to date at an average price of $2.15 per kilogram.

    At the same time last year, Malawi had earned $22.37 million from 11.03 million kg selling at an average price of $2.02 per kilogram.

    Malawi has been struggling with a balance of payment crisis, leaving it with insufficient foreign exchange to import many necessities. The crisis has led to shortage of fuel and other items.

  • VFC Opens Processing Center in Nicaragua

    VFC Opens Processing Center in Nicaragua

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    Las Mesitas 7
    Las Mesitas 5
    Las Mesitas 4
    Las Mesitas 3
    Las Mesitas 1

    The Vandermarliere Family of Cigars (VFC) inaugurated its Las Mesitas tobacco processing center near Esteli, Nicaragua, on Jan. 27.

    Together with the Las Llantas facility, Las Mesitas will store, process and ferment tobacco for Oliva Cigar Co.’s Tabolisa factory.

    “As manufacturers of the world’s finest cigars, we are also guardians of quality, on an everlasting quest to find perfection,” said VFC CEO Fred Vandermarliere during the opening ceremony, where nine members of the Vandermarliere family cut the ribbon. “We are now well-equipped for that mission.”

    According to Vandermarliere, Las Mesitas and Las Llantas each embody the company’s goal of offering cigar lovers the best product time and again. “They close the circle of production from seed to cigar and assure the entire loop is structured to aim for maximum quality. We control every aspect of the premium item you fire up to enjoy a unique moment,” he said.

    Employing 320 people and featuring state-of-the-art technology, the Las Mesitas complex represents not only a major long-term investment, but also a boost to the local community.

    “You can’t talk about quality that stems from exceptional origin and is forged by exceptional people without talking about fairness,” said Ernesto Milanes, head of the tobacco operations of the Longfiller group. “We invest in the local community because we want every premium cigar to connect everyone involved: from farmer to worker to aficionado. That’s the other circle—the circle of purpose.”

    The company’s support of the local community is a long-term commitment, according to Fred Vandermarliere. “One lifetime is only a short period of time, but what we build, survives us; it serves many generations to come,” he said.