In response to criticism from rights groups, environmentalists, and international purchasers, Zimbabwe, Africa's largest tobacco grower and one of the world's top exporters of the nicotine leaf, started its crop selling season amid commitments to reduce deforestation and child labor.
Today's news one of Zimbabwe's top concerns as the tobacco selling season for 2022 approaches is to combat deforestation and child labor. One of Africa's largest tobacco growers and exporters has committed to make the sector more sustainable.
Since we all know Tobacco can cause cancer International businesses, human rights organizations, and environmentalists have encouraged the country in southern Africa to avoid further controversy.
More than 100,000 small-scale Black farmers produce the majority of Zimbabwe's flue-cured tobacco crop. Children as young as five years old are commonly seen working in the fields alongside their parents to help with household expenses.
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Children on Zimbabwean tobacco plantations "work in hazardous conditions, undertaking duties that jeopardize their health and safety or interfere with their schooling," according to a 2018 study by Human Rights Watch.
Children under the age of 18 are prohibited from "doing hazardous job" under Zimbabwean law, but they are not specifically prohibited from handling tobacco.
Tobacco output in this southern African country has recovered after falling from a high of 260 million kilograms (290,000 tons) in 1998 to less than 50 million kilograms (60,000 tons) a decade later due to the expulsion of thousands of WHITE farmers who made up the bulk of growers.
Zimbabwe has dramatically grown the size of its crop in recent years, reclaiming its place among the world's top five tobacco exporters.
Last year, tobacco brought in $1.2 billion in exports for Zimbabwe, and the government hopes to grow the business to $5 billion by 2025.
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