Deforestation in tobacco industry

Tobacco is a key cash crop in cash-strapped Zimbabwe and today, in the wake of the controversial Fast Track Land Reform programme, 80 percent of the country’s tobacco farmers are now small-scale producers producing 180 million kilograms (397 million pounds) of tobacco annually.  Since the small-scale farmers continue to cut down vast swathes of indigenous trees for curing the tobacco, deforestation is a massive problem. Global Forest Watch, which tracks deforestation around the world, reports that Zimbabwe lost roughly 13 percent of its tree cover between 2000 and 2017. Read More