Category: Leaf

Yields Up in Bangladesh

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
Tobacco yields per hectare in Bangladesh have increased more than 20 percent over the past five years thanks to improved agricultural practices, reports The Daily Star.
In 2018–2019, growers harvested an average of 2.04 tons per hectare. By the 2022–2023 season, the figure has increased to 2.46 tons per hectare, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). In 2009–2010, per-hectare production was only 1.41 tons, according to World Bank data, which means per-hectare tobacco production has gone up by about 73 percent in 14 years.
The gain has been achieved by the introduction of high-yielding varieties and the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, according to experts.
Tobacco is a major cash crop in Bangladesh, the world’s 12th largest tobacco grower as of 2020, according to the University of Bath. In 2022–2023, the country grew 65,227 tons of tobacco on 26,475 hectares, representing roughly 1 percent of the total arable land in the country, DAE data show.
The domestic tobacco industry generated more than BDT325.02 billion ($2.77 billion) in revenue from cigarette sales in the most recent fiscal year, an 8 percent increase from the previous year, according to NBR data. Bangladesh also exports a significant volume of unmanufactured tobacco. In 2022, Euromonitor International estimated the Bangladeshi tobacco market to be worth nearly BDT420 billion.
According to a study by the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, tobacco farmers earn around 30 percent more than nontobacco farmers. The return from tobacco is about 18.6 percent higher than that from rice and about 33 percent higher than that from jute.
Critics blame tobacco production for its impact on soil, water and air. According to the World Health Organization, each cigarette emits nearly 14 grams of CO2 over its life cycle. Producing 300 cigarettes requires about one tree for curing leaf and making cigarette papers. In the case of Bangladesh, tobacco farming accounts for over 30 percent of annual deforestation, according to a study by PATH Canada.
May 31, 2024
High Leaf Prices Luring Growers in Bangladesh

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
High prices have been attracting more growers to tobacco production in Bangladesh’s Lalmonirhat District despite reservations about the crop within the Department of Agriculture, reports The Financial Express.
While tobacco is a notoriously laborious crop, farmers say its relatively low cost of production combined with the prevailing strong global demand make it financially more attractive than many other crops.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), farmers have cultivated tobacco on nearly 10,000 hectares of land in five administrative regions of the Lalmonirhat District, but farmers’ sources claim the figure to be higher.
“We are always motivating farmers not to cultivate tobacco,” said DAE Deputy Director Shaikhul Arefin. “But farmers are doing it only for good price. In recent years, maize farming has taken the place of tobacco farming in many areas. If fair prices can be ensured for other traditional crops, tobacco farming will reduce gradually.”
May 28, 2024
BAT Kenya Ups Leaf Price to Secure Supply

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
BAT Kenya is paying more for leaf to ensure the security of its supply, reports Business Daily Africa.
In fiscal year 2023, the cigarette manufacturer increased its per-kilo price by 5 percent to KES198.75 ($1.50) even as the number of contracted farmers dropped to 1,672, down nearly 20 percent from the previous fiscal year.
Only five years ago, BAT had access to 5,700 tobacco growers in Kenya. The drop has been driven in part by farmers abandoning tobacco in favor of alternative crops such as beans and maize, along with pressure from anti-smoking activists.
To help stem the decline, the company has been offering free tobacco seedlings, fertilizer and personal protective equipment. In addition, it has encouraged crop diversification by issuing farmers subsidized maize and avocado seeds, allowing them to earn extra income without abandoning tobacco.
The company has also been introducing hybrid tobacco seed varieties to boost crop yields and disease resistance, and low-cost technologies such as mechanized ploughing and ridges to help growers cut cost and maximize returns.
BAT Kenya paid KES954 million for its total tobacco requirements in 2023 compared with KES946 million in 2022. Last year, it purchased 4.8 million kg of leaf, down from 8.9 million kg in 2019.
May 27, 2024
Growers Reject Official Tobacco Price

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Tobacco grower representatives in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province accused Pakistan’s federal government of violating the tobacco law by fixing the leaf price for the current crop below the previous year’s rate, reports Dawn.
Martial Law Order 487 requires the weighted average price for the tobacco crop of any year to be equal to or higher than the weighted average price paid to them for the crop of the immediately preceding year.
According to the grower representatives, the Federal Ministry of National Food Security and Research has set the minimum indicative price at PKR505 ($1.81) per kilogram for flue-cured Viriginia tobacco this year. Last year, the weighted average price was PKR709 per kilogram.
The growers said the move was a flagrant violation of the tobacco marketing law that should be immediately corrected.
May 26, 2024
Digital Tobacco Platform Launched

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
ModernLeaf AI has launched a digital platform offering artificial intelligence solutions to increase productivity for Zimbabwe’s tobacco growers and exporters across the value chain, reports the Zimbabwe Independent.
“Looking beyond Zimbabwe envisions opportunities to expand the platform’s usage across Africa, signaling the need for investment in this ambitious endeavor,” said Takudzwa Sambo, founder of ModernLeaf AI. “ModernLeaf AI is poised to play a pivotal role in advancing the tobacco industry on the continent.”
“With cutting-edge AI technology, ModernLeaf AI empowers you with precision crop monitoring, advanced predictive analysis, early disease detection, premium quality control updates, strategic market insights, cost-efficient solutions, export strategy and compliance in international markets, [and] tobacco business intelligence in over 120 countries,” said Sambo.
Sambo emphasized that leveraging AI to propel Zimbabwe’s tobacco sector onward is a necessity. “I am grateful to the government for its vision outlined in Vision 2030, emphasizing the importance of youth involvement in realizing the strategic goals set forth in the National Development Strategy 1.”
May 22, 2024
Tobacco Earnings Jump

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Malawi earned $81.2 million from tobacco sales in the four weeks that ended May 10—83.3 percent more than in the same period last year, reports Xinhua.
The Tobacco Commission estimates that tobacco growers will bring 140 million kg to market this year, representing a 17 percent increase over last year’s production of around 125 million kilograms. The regulator said that 30 million kilograms have been sold since the markets opened in April, a 47.5 percent increase over the same period last year.
“The seasonal average price has also increased by 28 percent to an average of 2.7 dollars per kilogram, compared to 2.11 dollars per kilogram last year,” the commission said.
Tobacco exports accounted for $389 million dollars of Malawi’s $1.1 billion exports in 2023, according to the country’s National Statistics Office.
May 17, 2024
Zimbabwe Tobacco Export Earnings Jump

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Zimbabwe’s tobacco export earnings increased by a whopping 138 percent year-on-year to reach $436 million leaf in the first quarter of 2024, reports The Herald, as cigarette manufacturers were urged to explore high-paying markets.
Traditionally a leading exporter of leaf tobacco, the country aims to extract more revenue from the business by moving to higher value products, such as cigarettes. In 2021, the government adopted the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, which seeks to build a $5 billion industry by 2025.
Statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board reveal that cigarettes were the most lucrative export product, attracting prices of up to $7.44 per kilogram. Partly or wholly stemmed/stripped tobacco took second places, with earnings of $7.39 per kilogram, and smoking tobacco was third, earning $6.45 per kilogram.
Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association chairman George Seremwe attributed the gains to hard work by farmers and other stakeholders along with the favorable weather in the 2022–2023 growing season, which resulted in good-quality leaf.
He encouraged cigarette manufacturers to continue targeting markets that guarantee high prices for their products.
May 16, 2024
Zimbabwe: Farmers Urged to Clear Fields

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Tobacco growers who failed to clear their fields of residue from the previous crop by the May 15 deadline will face stiff penalties, Zimbabwe’s Kutsaga Research warned.
To break the life cycles of tobacco pests and pathogens, along with incidental infestations such as mealybugs and false wireworms, Zimbabwean law requires growers to clear their fields of all stalks from the previous crop before they prepare their seedbeds for the next growing season, according to The Herald.
The Plant Pests and Diseases Act requires this to be done by May 15 of every year. This year, seedbed preparations may start no earlier than June 1 while planting should not commence before Sept. 1.
Officials from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, Agritex and Plant Quarantine Services will be carrying out routine inspections of growers’ fields to ensure compliance, Kutsaga Research said in a notice.
“It is every tobacco grower’s responsibility to be proactive and ensure good agricultural practices and efficient use of aphicides as we enter the news season in order to slow down proliferation of aphids so as to minimize all viral transmissions,” the organization wrote.
Violators risk fines equivalent to US$100 per hectare.
May 16, 2024
Industry Supports Flood Victims in Brazil
The people of Santa Cruz do Sul are resilient and SindiTabaco is confident the region will recover from the recent natural disaster. (Video: Taco Tuinstra)
The tobacco industry is coming together to assist Brazilians in Rio Grande do Sul, which in early May suffered the biggest floods in the state’s history, particularly in the Rio Pardo Valley region.
As one of the world’s leading tobacco growing areas, Rio Grande do Sul plays a key role in global leaf supply (see “The Great Scramble,” Tobacco Reporter, May 2023). To help flood victims, the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union (SindiTabaco) and its member companies have been carrying out various initiatives.
Among other things, local tobacco companies have continued paying salaries to employees unable to come to work as a result of the floods.
The trade group and its members have also been donating basic food items, cleaning supplies, hygiene kits, and furniture, providing personal loans for reconstruction to associates, and offering mental support from psychologists.
In addition, tobacco companies and associations have also donated power generators and water tanks, as well as boats and vehicles for rescuing stranded people and animals.

Many tobacco operations were brought to a standstill by the floods, but gradually resumed operations the next week, according to SindiTabaco. (Photo: Taco Tuinstra)
Iro Schuenke
According to SindiTabaco, most tobacco operations came to a standstill after the floods hit on April 30, and gradually resumed the following week. “This is a crisis of an unprecedented degree, in which basic services are in jeopardy, like the lack of drinkable water and scarce communication,” said SindiTabaco President Iro Schunke in a statement.
Many member companies in the affected regions, he added, had difficulties contacting their employees.
In addition to looking after their employees, the tobacco companies are now working on recovery plans for their contracted farmers. According to Schunke, Brazil’s widely acclaimed integrated production system is now giving contractors a good grasp of the needs of the impacted growers. The high per-kilo earnings from this year’s crop should help farmers in the recovery process.
“The upcoming tobacco crop is in its initial phase and we are going to do a survey to come to grips with the losses that occurred. Just like what happened during the Covid-19 pandemic, we are going to move forward with resilience, joining efforts toward what has to be done,” said Schunke.
Readers wishing to support relief efforts in southern Brazil, can donate to the Rotary Club of Venancio Aires, which is headed by Inacio Leisman of Tabacos Marasca (see chart for bank details).
According to the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Brazil exported 512 million kg of tobacco with a value of $2.73 billion in 2023.

May 14, 2024
Officers Told to Stop Demanding Kickbacks

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) has told field officers to stop demanding kickbacks from tobacco growers and transporters, reports The Herald.
According to the newspaper, some field officers are forcing farmers to use only vehicles owned by certain individuals, with some demanding up to $3 per bale for this “service.”
The Tobacco Transporters Trust of Zimbabwe (TTTZ) is reportedly compiling a list of the culprits.
“Lat year, the officers were demanding $1 per bale,” TTTZ Chairperson Rutendo Sande was quoted as saying. “We lodged complaints but no action was taken.”
May 11, 2024