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Ashton Mutyavaviri
TOBACCO merchants must nurture a culture of training growers on good agricultural practices while promoting local community engagement in the areas they operate to mitigate any negative impacts of their operations.
This came out during a recent meeting of global tobacco growers and stakeholders in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where Governments were challenged to support the tobacco sectors of their countries amid deliberations on environmental social governance (ESG) practices and the positive socio-economic impact of tobacco in rural communities.
Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) was among the organisations that attended the meeting.
In an interview after their return, TIMB sustainability officer Mrs Sheilla Bauren said: “The meeting encouraged tobacco merchants to improve their adaptation to market requirements through adopting responsible production practices (GAP programmes) and addressing social issues such child labour and looking at their root causes such as health and nutrition.”
In a statement, the International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA) 2023 revealed that countries including Argentina, Brazil, India, Malawi, Tanzania, USA, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Bulgaria, Portugal, Poland, South Africa and Switzerland attended the ITGA’s 2023 annual general meeting.
ITGA president José Javier Aranda appealed to governments to consider tobacco growers as key partners given the important contribution of tobacco production as a significant income generator creating millions of jobs across the supply chain.
The ITGA president also highlighted the lack of alternatives to tobacco production.
“Tobacco is still among the main cash crops in most of the countries where it is grown. There is no room for crop substitution at this moment and only complementary crops can be considered as a way of transitioning from tobacco in the long term, provided the right opportunities in the market exist,” he explained.
ITGA and partners in the value chain are working together in encouraging farmers to be actively involved in social and environmental initiatives in the sector.
“Regulation trends indicate that compliant markets will have better opportunities to position their products and remain stable in the long term,” said the ITGA statement.
During the ESG session of the agenda, tobacco growers were encouraged to be active in the transformation and take ownership of initiatives in their communities.
ITGA chief executive officer Mercedes Vázquez also stressed the key priority message for tobacco growers ahead of the Conference of the Parties (COP)10 agenda.
“On one hand ITGA, as the only worldwide tobacco growers’ association is looking forward to seeing the evolution of Article 17 (economically viable alternatives of tobacco growing) because it has a direct impact on tobacco production and up until now, there is no evidence of any alternatives to tobacco production.”
In the global leaf market, significant 2023 production growth was registered in some of the biggest tobacco growing markets like Zimbabwe, China, Brazil, Malawi and India, while developed countries from Europe and the US continued to suffer declines.
In the emerging product categories, heated tobacco is expected to consolidate its position as leading category, as regulatory turbulence in e-vapour continues and nicotine pouches struggle to expand.
Online Reporter