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Tobacco farming is booming in some African countries. Big producers include Zimbabwe and Malawi. May 31 is celebrated as No Tobacco Day, worldwide to create awareness of the ill effects of tobacco
Tobacco farming is booming in some African countries. Big producers include Zimbabwe and Malawi. May 31 is celebrated as No Tobacco Day, worldwide to create awareness of the ill effects of tobacco
Zimbabwe is Africa’s largest tobacco producer. The size of the tobacco crop increased despite increased fertilizer prices caused by the war in Ukraine. Large-scale tobacco cultivation is pointed out as one of the reasons for food insecurity in the region since acreage under tobacco cultivation is larger than that of the area for growing food crops.
The acreage under tobacco cultivation has gone up by nearly 20%. The number of people facing acute food insecurity rose to 258 million in 58 countries in 2022, according to the latest Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC). Currently, China funds the bulk of production and buys the lion’s share of Zimbabwe’s tobacco.
The largest growers of tobacco continue to be China, India, and Brazil. But the growth of tobacco has increased manifold in Africa in the last couple of years. The big ones are Malawi, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, and other East African countries. In the western region, Cote d’Ivoire is also a big grower of tobacco. Down south Mozambique is also a grower of tobacco.
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The southern African country now wants to make its tobacco industry more lucrative by manufacturing more cigarettes at home and limiting foreign funding of farmers. Zimbabwe expects to harvest 230 million kilograms (254,000 tons) of the golden leaf this season, up from 212 million kilograms (234,000 tons) last year, according to officials.
