The tobacco plant is a member of the same botanical family as tomatoes, potatoes, peppers or eggplants.
Tobacco does well in poorer soils, providing farmers with a welcome alternative crop. In many cases, tobacco provides a higher income than any other smallholder crop. As a crop, it fits well into environmentally friendly rotations: growing it will benefit the next crop, (like maize) to be grown in that soil. A typical farmer with, for example, two to three hectares of land can earn a good income from only a small part of that land being planted with tobacco. The nearest co-operative can help the farmer by providing seeds and fertiliser and by giving advice on planting, growing, harvesting and curing tobacco and other crops.
There are some 13 000 seeds in a gram – looking rather like powdery instant coffee. The seeds are so small that they must be nurtured in specially prepared and protected seedbeds for 60 – 90 days before being planted in the field. After a couple of weeks, soil is banked up around the seedlings to protect them and to allow them to develop a good root system. Two months later, the plants’ flowers and some of the upper leaves are ‘topped’ to concentrate growth in the remaining leaves (in the same way that tomatoes are ‘pinched out’).
All the time, the farmer needs to provide the appropriate nutrition for the plant. It would be inadvisable to give general guidelines as each region has very specific factors to take into consideration e.g. the type of soil, nitrogen levels, rainfall levels etc. Watch out for pests as the crop grows towards the harvesting stage.
There are several stages to producing tobacco: growing, harvesting, curing, grading and selling (all done by the farmer). Thereafter, processing and packing are done by the processor. Manufacturing of tobacco products and the marketing thereof are done by the manufacturer.
Curing is a carefully controlled process to achieve the texture, colour and overall quality of a specific tobacco type. During the cure, leaf starch is converted into sugar, the green colour vanishes and the tobacco goes through colour changes from lemon to yellow to orange to brown like tree leaves in autumn. There are two main curing methods used in South Africa.
Two other methods (not practised in South Africa) are Sun-Curing and Fire-Curing (you can read about this on www.tobaccoleaf.org).
After curing, the farmer grades the leaves into different leaf positions, qualities and colours and packs his grades into what is known as a farmer bale of 30 – 50kg. He then takes his bales to a buying centre or auction for sale. In South Africa the processing facilities belong to tobacco farmers in the form of companies or co-operatives. Farmers are paid for their tobacco at the point of delivery according to a valuation being placed on every bale of tobacco. After this, the tobacco is processed and packed according to specifications of manufacturers and/or leaf dealers.
The tobacco industry in South Africa can be split into two industries: primary and secondary industry.
The primary industry relates to all grower aspects. This means the actual growing, harvesting, curing, grading and delivery of unprocessed tobacco leaves to a processing plant.
Apart from farmer co-operatives and companies, tobacco merchants or leaf dealers are also part of the primary industry. These companies are known as intermediary buyers. They buy processed tobacco from processing plants according to specifications of their clients, who are manufacturers of tobacco products. In South Africa the leaf dealers mostly buy tobacco from grower co-operatives or companies, although some air cured tobacco is bought directly from contracted growers.
Two types of tobacco are produced in South Africa: Flue cured tobacco, which is used mainly for cigarettes; and Air cured tobacco, which is mainly used as pipe tobacco, snuff and RYO (roll your own cigarettes). Flue cured production is currently about 8 to 10 million kg per annum, of which almost the entire crop is used for local consumption. Air cured production is around 2 to 3 million kg per annum, of which 70% to 80% is used for local consumption. The aim is to increase the crop size in the short to medium term to meet export demand.
The secondary or manufacturing industry relates to the actual manufacturing and marketing of the end product to the consumer. These are tobacco products like cigarettes, pipe tobacco and snuff.
This industry is also responsible for the importing and exporting of finished tobacco products. Tobacco products are distributed through wholesalers, retailers and small players in the informal market (street vendors, spaza shops, etc).
In South Africa there are cigarette factories as well as factories which manufacture pipe tobacco products and snuff.
South Africa became party to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2005, a legal instrument governing all aspects related to tobacco, from growing to the end user. This means that South Africa is legally bound to implement the provisions contained in the treaty. Find more information on the FCTC at https://fctc.who.int/who-fctc.
Find information on the different directorates of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) at www.dalrrd.gov.za.
Department of Health www.health.gov.za
Toll-free Illicit Crime Hotline 0800 014 856 and www.stopillegal.com
Further reference:
Training and research
Companies involved
Visit the websites listed on this page e.g. www.tobaccoleaf.org. and www.batsa.co.za.
The ARC has the following publications:
Remedies for tobacco pests and diseases constantly change: in addition to the ARC publications mentioned above, refer to Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) publications, regularly updated e.g. A Guide to the Control of Plant Diseases, A Guide to the Control of Plant Pests etc.
Find the latest Tobacco Market Value Chain Profile on the Directorate Marketing pages at www.dalrrd.gov.za.
Find the Info Pak “Tobacco (air-cured)” and “Tobacco production guidelines” at www.dalrrd.gov.za.
TradeProbe 91 (2022, November) included the article “Trade profile of tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes (HS 24)”. Find it at www.namc.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Trade-Probe_Issue-91.pdf
Van Walbeek C., Filby S. & Van der Zee K. 2020. Lighting Up The Illicit Market: Smoker’s Responses To The Cigarette Sales Ban In South Africa. University of Cape Town. Available at www.reep.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/405/Publications/reports/Lockdown%20Survey%20Final.pdf
Van Loggerenberg J. 2019. Tobacco wars. Cape Town: Tafelberg Publishing. Available at www.litnet.co.za/reader-impression-tobacco-wars-by-johann-van-loggerenberg/
Snyckers T. 2020. Dirty Tobacco: Spies, Lies and Mega-Profits. Cape Town: NB Publishers.
Tobacco Control Data Initiative https://southafrica.tobaccocontroldata.org
