Flue cured tobacco in Zimbabwe: a particularly harmful commodity requiring the attention of Tobacco Control

Background: Tobacco control is beginning to pay attention to additives and flavours in tobacco products but less so to the tobacco leaf itself. Flue-Cured Virginia (FCV) leaf increases dependence on nicotine while the heat for curing FCV leads to health-damaging climate change from deforestation of Zimbabwe’s Miombo woodland. To date, little is published unpacking FCV’s profitability in Zimbabwe and what, if any, efforts are made to mitigate risks or move away from FCV.

Methods: We draw on three sources of data: (a) Tobacco Journal International, a tobacco industry journal, (b) Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reports from two Big Tobacco companies and (c) fieldwork in Zimbabwe comprising key informant interviews (n=11) alongside interviews and focus groups with smallholder tobacco farmers (n=51).

Results: FCV’s profitability thwarts motivation to stop growing the leaf. FCV requires labour-intensive agrochemical-based husbandry and curing requirements to calibrate desirable chemical content. Despite negative implications of chemical exposure and high production costs, Big Tobacco shows little appetite for discontinuing production of FCV. Rather than stopping flue-curing, actors attempt to address the environmental damage, but smallholder farmers’ earnings are inadequate to prevent use of fuel from Miombo woodlands. Diversification alternatives (including maize, livestock or cannabis) are insufficient.

Conclusion: FCV increases the addictiveness of tobacco products and threatens the Miombo ecosystem in southern Africa. Restrictions on the use of flue-cured leaf in tobacco products have the potential to reduce demand for cigarettes and support the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control’s Articles 17 and 18.