Where is tobacco cultivated?
Have you ever wondered where tobacco comes from, is it made in a factory or it is grown? The truth is that it is grown like plants. They start as seeds and then they are germinated until the start to grown to a certain height. Once they achieve that height then they are planted in rich soil fields until they are ready to be harvested. Tobacco is grown in places all over the world. Some places more than others but there are some tobacco fields in many countries. Tobacco needs warn climates to grow so you won't see tobacco fields in Antarctica. Which countries cultivate them more than others? China, Brazil. And India are the top three.
China: The peak of tobacco production is when there are 20 million rural Chinese households can produce tobacco on 2.1 million hectares of land. Tobacco is a major crop for Chinese farmers it is not as profitable to them as cotton or even sugar cane. In 1982, China formed the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration or STMA and they control the tobacco production, marketing, important and exports which contribute to 12% of the nation's national income.
Brazil: in Brazil there are 135,000 farmers that grow tobacco as their main economic activity. In Brazil tobacco does exceed the 0.7% of the country's total cultivated areas. In the southern part of Brazil, Virginia and Amarelinho flue cured tobacco as well as the Burley and Dark, which is air, cured tobacco products. This type of tobacco is used for Cigarettes and in the Northeast darker and air cured and sun cured tobacco is grown and that is used for cigars, twists and dark flavored cigarettes. The Brazilian Government has actually taken steps to reduce the production of tobacco but so far has not been successful. The government does actually provide small loans for family farms even those that grow tobacco and this is done through the Brazilian program Programa Nacional de Fortalecimiento da Agricultura Familiar or PRONAF.
India: India has over 90,000-registered tobacco farmers and though there are more who are unregistered. There is only about 0.25% of land that is used to cultivate tobacco. Since as early as 1947, The Indian government has actually supported the growth or tobacco in fact India has 8 research centers that research tobacco. They are located in Madras, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Mysore, Bangalore, West Bengal and Rajamundry.
Of course there are problems within each country as they grow tobacco, you have things that you cannot control such as the weather, since you need warm climates to grow tobacco sometimes Mother Nature is not good to growers. Tobacco is a million dollar industry and the number one vice of anyone on the world is not drinking it is smoking, it can be cigars, cigarettes and even pipes, there are some people that even chew it straight, studies have shown this to cause mouth cancer and there are steps to have this discontinued but so far it is not been successful.