View source for Tobacco in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is the largest grower of tobacco in Africa, and the 6th largest grower in the world.  Three types of tobacco have traditionally been grown in the country: [[Types of tobacco#Brightleaf tobacco|Virginia flue-cured]], [[Burley (tobacco)|burley]] and [[oriental tobacco]]. Over 95% of Zimbabwe’s tobacco consists of [[flue-cured tobacco]], which is renowned for its flavor.<ref name="xinhua20160330">{{cite news|title=Zimbabwe tobacco output to tumble after devastating drought|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-03/30/c_135237847.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413192632/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-03/30/c_135237847.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 13, 2016|work=Xinhua|date=March 30, 2016}}</ref>  The cash crop is a major part of Zimbabwe's economy. In 2017, tobacco accounted for 11% of the country's GDP, and 3 million of the country's 16 million people depended on tobacco farming for their livelihood.<ref name="xinhua2018">{{cite news |title=Zimbabwe's 2018 tobacco production hits all-time high |url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-07/24/c_137345408.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724122712/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-07/24/c_137345408.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 24, 2018 |work=Xinhua |date=7 July 2018}}</ref>  The main export market is China, which purchased 54% of Zimbabwe's exports in 2015.<ref name="newsday2015">{{cite news|title=China gets lion's share of tobacco exports|url=https://www.newsday.co.zw/2015/05/04/china-gets-lions-share-of-tobacco-exports/|work=NewsDay Zimbabwe|date=4 May 2015}}</ref>

== History of tobacco production ==

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right;float:right"
|-
! Season !! Tobacco sales<br/>(million lb) !! Notes
|-
| 1910 || 0.1 || <ref name="hodder-williams1983"/>{{rp|51}}
|-
| 1946 || 41 || <ref name="hodder-williams1983"/>{{rp|189}}
|-
| 1950 || 107 || <ref name="hodder-williams1983"/>{{rp|189}}
|-
| 1957 || 139 || <ref name="tow1960">{{cite book|last1=Tow|first1=Leonard|title=The Manufacturing Economy of Southern Rhodesia: Problems and Prospects|date=1960|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|location=Washington, DC|page=61}}</ref>
|-
| 1965 || 325 || <ref name="home2015"/>
|-
| 1971 || 132 || <ref name="home2015"/>
|}

Tobacco was grown in [[Zimbabwe]] for subsistence purposes even before the British arrived in Africa.  In 1889, the [[British South Africa Company]] established British rule over what became [[Company rule in Rhodesia|Southern Rhodesia]].  The European colonists reserved half of the country's land for their own use.<ref name="usarmy1983">{{cite book|editor1-last=Nelson|editor1-first=Harold D.|title=Zimbabwe, a country study|date=1983|publisher=U.S. Department of the Army|location=Washington, DC|url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a135022.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304034110/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a135022.pdf|url-status=live|archive-date=March 4, 2016}}</ref>  The highveld was not desirable for growing food crops and raising livestock, so the Company turned to tobacco as a crop that could thrive in the sandy soil.<ref name="hodder-williams1983">{{cite book|last1=Hodder-Williams|first1=Richard|title=White Farmers in Rhodesia, 1890–1965: A History of the Marandellas District|date=1983|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781349048953|quote=The Company's answer to this was tobacco. ... Although it required skills and capital to grow well, it gave a good return on that capital within two years, unlike cattle, and could be grown on the sandy soils of the highveld which had hitherto found few buyers.}}</ref>{{rp|51}}  Rhodesia modeled its tobacco industry on the United States, adopting American production methods to grow [[Types of tobacco#Brightleaf tobacco|Virginia tobacco]].<ref name="home2015">{{cite book|last1=Home|first1=Gerald|title=From the Barrel of a Gun: The United States and the War against Zimbabwe, 1965-1980|date=2015|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=9781469625591}}</ref>

Rhodesian tobacco found a ready export market, as Rhodesia was in a [[customs union]] with South Africa and had [[Imperial Preference]] in the British market.<ref name="hodder-williams1983"/>{{rp|51}}  By the 1950s, Rhodesia was producing over 100 million pounds of tobacco each year, 99% of it Virginia flue-cured tobacco.<ref name="tow1960"/>  At its peak, Rhodesia produced 20% of the world's flue-cured tobacco.<ref name="zta"/>

In 1965, the white minority government of Rhodesia [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence|declared independence]] from Great Britain.  International sanctions against Rhodesia eliminated many export markets, and the anti-smoking movement reduced global demand for tobacco.  In 1968, Rhodesia was hit by the worst drought in 40 years.  White farmers were also targeted for assassination by black rebels in the [[Rhodesian Bush War]].  As a result, the Rhodesian tobacco crop declined from 325 million pounds in 1965 to 132 million pounds in 1971.<ref name="home2015"/>

=== Transition to black majority rule ===

In 1979, the civil war ended with the [[Lancaster House Agreement]], which granted the country black majority rule.  For the next 20 years, [[Robert Mugabe]] and his [[ZANU-PF]] government allowed the whites to keep farming the land.  Tobacco production recovered and peaked at {{convert|260|e6kg|e6lb}} in 1998.<ref name="fao2003">{{cite book|title=Issues in the Global Tobacco Economy|date=2003|publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations|chapter=Tobacco in Zimbabwe|chapter-url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y4997e/y4997e0k.htm}}</ref>

=== Land redistribution ===

At independence, almost half of the country's arable land was owned by whites, who made up less than 5% of the population.<ref name="csm1982">{{cite news|last1=Kalter|first1=Joanmarie|title=Zimbabwe whites: most try to find niche under black rule|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0823/082346.html|work=Christian Science Monitor|date=23 August 1982}}</ref>  Although land reform had been a major rallying cry of the black rebels, the Lancaster House Agreement prohibited [[nationalization]] of land before 1990.  White-owned land could only be transferred to blacks on a "willing buyer, willing seller" basis, and purchases were funded by the British government.  Although white farmers felt some apprehension as the 1990 deadline approached, no large-scale land confiscations took place.<ref name="nytimes1989">{{cite news|last1=Perlez|first1=Jane|title=Uncertain Lies the Land of Zimbabwe's Farmers|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/25/world/plumtree-journal-uncertain-lies-the-land-of-zimbabwe-s-farmers.html|work=The New York Times|date=25 November 1989}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Tony Blair]] led the Labour Party to victory in the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|British general election]] after 18 years of Conservative rule.  In 1999, Mugabe accused Blair of reneging on previous commitments made to Zimbabwe by the Conservatives.<ref name="bbc1999">{{cite news|title=Mugabe: UK set 'gay gangsters' on me|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/508712.stm|work=BBC News|date=8 November 1999|quote=He also attacked Mr Blair as a "little man", saying he refused to honour commitments made by previous Conservative governments to help fund Zimbabwe's land reforms.}}</ref>  In 2000, Zimbabwe began to forcibly seize white-owned farmland without compensation and redistribute the land to blacks.  The new black settlers were unskilled in tobacco farming and did not hold [[Title (property)|title]] to the land, so they lacked the collateral needed to obtain bank loans.<ref name="reuters2016">{{cite news|last1=Mambondiyani|first1=Andrew|title=Bank loans beyond reach for Zimbabwe farmers without land titles|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-zimbabwe-landrights-farming-idUSKCN1001R4|work=Reuters|date=20 July 2016}}</ref>  Much of Zimbabwe's farmland went out of cultivation, and the tobacco crop bottomed out at 48 million kg in 2008, just 21% of the 2000 crop.
Tobacco production in Zimbabwe hit record highs of 252 million kg in 2019 according to statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board.

=== Recovery ===

In 2005, the contract system was introduced into Zimbabwe.  Buyers like [[British American Tobacco]] began to contract with tobacco farmers to buy their entire crop at the end of the season.  In return, the buyer would supply the farmer with all necessary inputs, including seed and fertilizer.<ref name="bloomberg2011">{{cite news|last1=Latham|first1=Brian|title=Mugabe's Seized Farms Boost Profits at British American Tobacco|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-11-30/mugabe-s-seized-farms-boost-british-american-tobacco-profits-in-zimbabwe|work=Bloomberg|date=30 November 2011}}</ref>  Buyers also took greater responsibility for the crop, sending agronomists to the contracted fields to advise farmers on agricultural techniques and make sure that tobacco workers were paid on time.<ref name="herald2016">{{cite news|last1=Kawadza|first1=Sydney|title=Contract farming: Future for agriculture|url=http://www.herald.co.zw/contract-farming-future-for-agric/|work=The Herald (Zimbabwe)|date=16 June 2016}}</ref>

In 2005, [[China Tobacco]] began to invest in Zimbabwe through its subsidiary, Tian Ze Tobacco.  The entry of the Chinese into the Zimbabwean tobacco market drove up sales prices and improved contract terms.  Farmers were able to lease agricultural equipment from Tian Ze on a 3-year repayment schedule.  By 2016, Tian Ze was issuing {{US$|40}} million each year in interest-free loans to tobacco farmers.<ref name="mutenga2014">{{cite news|last1=Mutenga|first1=Tabitha|title=Tian Ze transforms tobacco farming|url=http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/tian-ze-transforms-tobacco-farming/|work=The Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)|date=October 30, 2014}}</ref><ref name="xinhua2016">{{cite news|last1=Machingura|first1=Gretinah|title=Partnering Chinese, Zimbabwe tobacco farmers embark on road to success|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-07/10/c_135502309.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160711114050/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-07/10/c_135502309.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 11, 2016|work=Xinhua|date=July 10, 2016}}</ref>

Tobacco production recovered under the contract system of agriculture.  The 2018 tobacco crop of 258 million kg was a new record for the post-land reform era, almost reaching the all-time peak of 260 million kg achieved in 1998.  The structure of the industry has been completely overturned.  1,500 large-scale tobacco farmers grew 97% of the crop in 2000, but 110,000 small-scale tobacco farmers grew 65% of the crop in 2013.<ref name="bloomberg2013"/>  The white farmers had sold most of their tobacco at auction, but 80% of Zimbabwe's tobacco crop was grown under contract in 2016.<ref name="standard2016">{{cite news|last1=Mandizha|first1=Tarisai|title=Dual marketing to stay in tobacco sector|url=http://www.thestandard.co.zw/2016/08/14/dual-marketing-stay-tobacco-sector/|work=The Standard|date=14 August 2016}}</ref>  Most of Zimbabwe's tobacco crop was sold to European and American companies in 2000, but 54% of Zimbabwe's tobacco exports were sold to China in 2015.<ref name="newsday2015"/>

== Statistics ==

{{Historical populations
| title = Tobacco produced in Zimbabwe
| align = center
| cols = 4
| pop_name = million kg
| source = 1980–2000;<ref name="fao2003"/> 2004–2005;<ref name="afrol2005">{{cite news|last1=Mafunda|first1=Kumbirai|title=Tiny tobacco crop spells doom in Zimbabwe|url=http://www.afrol.com/articles/17158|work=Afrol News|date=7 November 2005}}</ref> 2008;<ref name="bloomberg2013">{{cite news|last1=Marawanyika|first1=Godfrey|title=Mugabe Makes Zimbabwe's Tobacco Farmers Land Grab Winners|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-11-03/mugabe-makes-zimbabwe-s-tobacco-farmers-land-grab-winners|work=Bloomberg|date=4 November 2013}}</ref> 2010–2013;<ref name="zta">{{cite web|title=History of Tobacco|url=http://www.fctobacco.com/index.php/about/history-of-tobacco|website=Zimbabwe Tobacco Association|accessdate=21 September 2016}}</ref> 2014;<ref name="xinhua2016"/> 2015;<ref name="reuters2015">{{cite news|title=Zimbabwe Farmers Fear a Hungry Winter after Poor Tobacco Crop|url=http://www.newsweek.com/zimbabwe-farmers-face-hungry-winter-after-poor-tobacco-crop-356113|work=Newsweek|agency=Reuters|date=22 July 2015|language=en}}</ref> 2016–2017;<ref name="dailynews2018">{{cite news |last1=Mutenga |first1=Tabitha |title=Tobacco farmers rake in $236 million |url=https://www.dailynews.co.zw/articles/2018/05/10/tobacco-farmers-rake-in-236-million |work=Daily News (Zimbabwe) |date=10 May 2018}}</ref> 2018–2019;<ref>{{cite news |title=Zimbabwe farmers produce record tobacco crop |url=https://www.thezimbabwemail.com/farming-enviroment/zimbabwe-farmers-produce-record-tobacco-crop/ |work=The Zimbabwe Mail |date=4 September 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

| 1980 | 125
| 1981 | 72
| 1982 | 91
| 1983 | 99
| 1984 | 125
| 1985 | 108
| 1986 | 116
| 1987 | 121
| 1988 | 115
| 1989 | 130
| 1990 | 130
| 1991 | 179
| 1992 | 211
| 1993 | 205
| 1994 | 182
| 1995 | 198
| 1996 | 209
| 1997 | 215
| 1998 | 260
| 1999 | 193
| 2000 | 228
| 2001 |
| 2002 |
| 2003 |
| 2004 | 69
| 2005 | 73
| 2008 | 48
| 2010 | 59 
| 2011 | 124
| 2012 | 144
| 2013 | 167
| 2014 | 217
| 2015 | 189
| 2016 | 202
| 2017 | 189
| 2018 | 253
| 2019 | 258
}}

==See also==
*[[Economy of Zimbabwe]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Tobacco in Zimbabwe| ]]