Tobacco.org

Da'an City musicians win flue-cured tobacco cultivation to develop Rural 

Da'an City musicians win rural foster the concept of building a modern agriculture to develop in order to focus on cured tobacco cultivation characteristics of leading industries, and promote the farmers to increase the process of getting rich. Tobacco production is expected this year, the township, up to 900,000 kilograms, a record output of 1000 million yuan, the average household income of smoke up to 30,000 yuan.

Building a base and strengthen infrastructure construction in tobacco. To improve the basic conditions for the production of tobacco as a main task, take the initiative to coordinate with the City, the relationship between the tobacco sector, to apply for projects focused on the comprehensive management of planted areas, to carry out tobacco capital and base infrastructure.

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Next tobacco farming season prospects brighter 

Prospects for the next tobacco farming season are brighter with sales of tobacco seeds having already doubled from the 147 kilogrammes recorded during the last season.

With the supply of the golden leaf continuing to increase at the country's auction floors and growers getting attractive prices, demand for tobacco seeds has risen.

Figures from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board TIMB show close to 100% increase in seeds sold so far, compared to last season.

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US$60m tobacco facility unveiling triggers concern 

The unveiling of a whopping US$60 million tobacco facility by Afrexim Bank at the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association congress has triggered concern from Tobacco Regulatory Board, the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board and representatives of small scale farmers.

The board and small scale farmers' representatives questioned the logic of unveiling such huge amounts of money to an association which represents only 200 white farmers at the expense of over 57 000 black farmers.

Salt lakes Holdings feel their exclusion from the occasion is back door way of re-empowering a few white commercial farmers at the expense of the newly resettled farmers who are now the backbone of agriculture sector.

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• Rising tobacco output flies in the face of WHO commitment 

India’s tobacco production rose by 25 per cent to 314 million kg in 2008-09, making it even more difficult for the country to meet its commitment to the World Health Organization (WHO) to reduce production by 50 per cent within the next decade.

“The country’s tobacco production reached 314 million kg in 2008-09, as against 252 million kg in the previous year. The rise in output has been massive,” state-owned Tobacco Board Chairman J Suresh Babu said.

The output from Andhra Pradesh, the largest producer, rose to 200 million kg in 2008-09 from 165 million kg in the previous year. Production in Karnataka surged to 114 million kg as against 87 million kg during the review period,Babu said.

The rise in production may spell bad news for the country. India, the third-largest exporter of tobacco in the world, became a signatory to the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2003, whereby it is mandatory to reduce tobacco supply by 50 per cent within 10-15 years of signing the pact.

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Zimbabwe Gets $60 Million to Boost Tobacco Output, Herald Says 

Zimbabwe secured a $60 million loan from the Africa Export Import Bank to boost tobacco production, the Herald reported, citing Finance Minister Tendai Biti.

The southern African nation needs about $120 million to increase annual tobacco output to 75 million kilograms (165 million pounds) from 42 million kilograms now, the Harare-based newspaper said.

Often-violent farm invasions by loyalists of President Robert Mugabe have seen tobacco production plummet

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Zimbabwe exports 22 million kg Virginia tobacco  

Zimbabwe has so far exported a total of 22.1 million kilograms of Virginia tobacco valued at about 66 million U.S. dollars to various destinations in the first five months of this year, according to The Herald on Tuesday.

However, this is a decrease from the 38.5 million kg worth 115.5 million dollars from the amount of tobacco that was exported during the same period last year.

This is attributed to challenges such as pricing and poor deliveries that haunted the sector last year.

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• SMALERA: Lost in the Weed: We stopped subsidizing tobacco farming. The result? Tobacco farming’s on the rise.  

But the bill Obama signed is actually the second half of a legislative push, or maybe a putsch, that Philip Morris and its parent, Altria (MO), have been shepherding through Congress for more than a decade. In 2004, President Bush signed the first half of the legislation, which had to do with tobacco production rather than consumption. That bill, the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004, eliminated the quota system for tobacco farmers that had been in place since the 1930s. Similar to its other crop insurance programs, the government had created a system to guarantee a minimum price for tobacco farmers by limiting the amount that could be grown each year.

In what is a familiar refrain, the buyout was sold to Congress and anti-smoking groups as something that was necessary to help impoverished small tobacco farmers get out of the business. . . .

In 2004 it was Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, who tried to pull back the curtain. He said at the time, "The House buyout plan is an incredible rip-off of the taxpayer, mostly to benefit a handful of large tobacco interests and tobacco companies." . . .

The South, after a few years of production declines adjusting to the new market dynamics, is again growing plenty of tobacco. And tobacco acreage, after declining following the buyout, has jumped up by more than 20 percent, including in some states where tobacco hasn't been farmed in 100 years, like Ohio and Illinois.

According to one story on the buyout, some farmers have stopped growing commodity crops like corn and wheat to switch to the wildly more profitable tobacco crop. . . .

So, five years later, the first prong of the tobacco legislation effort spearheaded by Philip Morris USA and supported by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has consolidated, boosted, and industrialized American tobacco farming and removed the price supports that made American tobacco exports unattractive on the open market. The only problem is that now that Philip Morris International is using so much American tobacco, its profits had fallen last quarter due to the stronger American dollar. But before some congressman jumps to Big Tobacco's rescue, as they seem to love to do these days, I should note that the dollar is already weakening once again.

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SIMS: Ally and foe, tobacco was a complicated companion 

Thousands of years after its discovery, the obituary of tobacco is being is being prepared in the country of its birth. Congress has passed, and President Obama has signed, a law under which tobacco will be treated as a drug rather than an agricultural product.

When Christopher Columbus arrived in America, Indians smoked a sacred substance they called tabaco to celebrate the coming of peace. Now, this same substance is blamed annually for 400,000 American deaths and $100 billion in health care costs.

This is fateful news for North Carolina, which is by far the greatest U.S. producer of tobacco. It is also a poignant personal matter, for in my own life tobacco played the roles of savior and sustainer before turning into destroyer. . . .

we were desperately poor. Then my father switched to tobacco. . . .

How will North Carolinians replace the more than half-billion dollars that came from growing tobacco? I see no magic cure such as replacing one crop with another. And how will history judge America for subsidizing tobacco at home while demanding that other countries stop producing opium and marijuana that may be less harmful?

The questions are blowing in the wind, but only time can bring the answers.

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• Smoker decides to grow his own tobacco 

A general contractor who lives in Peninsula, Carey has been a cigarette and cigar smoker most of his adult life.

But when April 1 came and he read that taxes on tobacco products increased, he took action.

Carey went on the Internet and found places where he could purchase tobacco seeds.

Within about a week, he had received 40 types of seeds and his life as a tobacco farmer was planted.

''This project is something of an experiment to identify varieties of tobacco suitable for growing in our climate,'' Carey said.

7,000 plants in ground

The tiny seeds, so small they can hardly be seen, grew into plants by mid-June. And when the ground had warmed up, a group of friends helped him put the plants into the ground -- 7,000 in all.

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U.S. Rep. Phil Roe Joins Fight Against Canadian Tobacco Bill  

A Northeast Tennessee Congressman is the latest person to join the fight against a bill making its way through the Canadian legislature that could hurt American burley tobacco farmers.

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, R-1st, sent Canadian International Trade Minister Stockwell Day a letter voicing his opposition to that country's "Cracking down on Tobacco Marketing Aimed at Youth Act."

Known as C-32, the bill would ban the sale and manufacture of flavored cigars and cigarettes in Canada. The legislation unanimously passed the Canadian House of Commons on June 17 and is now making its way through the Canadian Senate. . . .

"I view this as a trade measure rather a health measure," Roe wrote in his letter, which called C-32 a "protectionist measure" because it could put American tobacco farmers at a loss while creating a market for tobacco varieties not commonly grown in this country.

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VIDEO: Will new tobacco legislation affect farmers?  

It's another tobacco growing season, and the president's new law will likely have an impact on local farmers.

"I say, eventually in the long run, there is going to be less tobacco use, so there is going to be less needed to be produced," tobacco farmer Shawn Brumfield said.

Under the new anti-smoking bill, cigarette packages must have a warning label that covers 50 percent of the front and back packaging, and light or mild cigarettes are off the market.

"Obviously, tobacco is a product that is harmful to the health of a person, so it seems to me like the FDA will try to have some control over that," Brumfield said.

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New Rules For Cigarettes; New Plight For Tobacco Farmers  

Monday President Barack Obama signed sweeping new tobacco regulations into law that give the Food and Drug Administration new powers to control what's in cigarettes. The president called it a boon for public health, but what does it mean for North Carolina's top crop?

North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr said there's no question it will hurt the tobacco industry in the long term.

"Whatever transition the industry makes, will probably be a small transition at first, but in the future has a devestating impact on the overall growth of tobacco," Burr said. . . .

Burr said the hope right now for the North Carolina tobacco farmers lies in growing demand overseas. Already more than half of the state's crop is exported and the new law doesn't have jurisdiction over that market.

"I'm convinced the international market will be as fruitful for North Carolina tobacco farmers as the domestic market has been," said Burr.

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PASI: Tobacco Alone is Just not Enough  

Amidst all this excitement one can already see the genuine elation that finally, the farmers receive their toil’s worth. For some this means being able to meet school fees payments . . .

This year by many standards, will perhaps go down as one of the worst in recent memory vis-à-vis the overall production in this sector. Initial estimates of tobacco sales this year were put at 42 million kgs. . . .

Perhaps it is on this background that the Prime Minister has taken it upon himself to rally up international financial support. Initial indications suggest that it will take a lot more on this country’s part to gain any meaningful injections. A comparison has been made where a football club in Europe spends more buying just one player than total commitments in aid to Zimbabwe. The Deputy Prime Minister could not have put it better at the recent World Economic Forum when he suggested that what Zimbabwe needs is direct investment as opposed to aid. This is would be the only way out to create a sustainable economy. . . .

While some of these countries remain largely poor, pockets of wealthy individuals do exist and perhaps looking to Africa could pay dividends. Surely there are some with spare change for poor Zimbabwe.

The long and short of it is that the agricultural sector and tobacco in particular, will in its self require significant financial and human input to get back to past levels. Expecting tobacco alone and other such sectors to be the salvation will take much longer than initially anticipated. If the wealthy would much rather spend £80 million on a soccer player than investing in Zimbabwe, then maybe it is time Zimbabwe wakes up, smells the coffee and look for other alternatives.

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Ky. tobacco growers oppose Canadian bill  

Tobacco advocates used to being on the defensive in their own country are fuming over a Canadian proposal they say could essentially ban some American leaf often used in cigarettes.

The measure winding through Canada's parliament would outlaw selling tobacco embellished with fruit and candy flavors, which health officials say entice youngsters to smoke. Supporters of the cash crop worry that American burley -- a variety commonly blended with other types of tobacco and laced with flavors to smooth its harsh taste -- will be snarled in the ban, and that other countries will be encouraged to enact similar restrictions.

The bill was passed by Canada's House of Commons and has gone to the nation's Senate. Tobacco officials and their congressmen are working hard to keep the bill from passing, arguing the livelihood of farmers and manufacturers is in jeopardy.

Roger Quarles, president of the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative in Lexington, said the flavorings added to burley are undetectable to consumers.

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Tobacco farmers growing anxious  

Kentucky's tobacco industry will be able to conduct this growing season as usual, but farmers question what new FDA regulations and a possible Canadian ban on burley will mean for the future.

"Contracts are being signed as we speak today," Tommy Bale said of the sales contracts farmers make with tobacco companies, meaning this season won't be impacted.

Bale is not only a farmer, but also president of Bale Tobacco Marketing, with a tobacco weigh station in Glasgow with Phillip Morris International and elsewhere. Phillip Morris exports what it purchases in Glasgow to manufacturing plants outside the United States, including to Canada.

"From the knowledge that I have, the (Canadian) regulation is overkill," Bale said. "It was good that it originally targeted cigars that had a candy flavor, but now it will eliminate any flavorings at all."

That means that Kentucky burley - which is blended with flu cured tobacco - could be banned from the nation.

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