Robert Mwale & Leonce Sessou,
Tobacco has shaped the economies of Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe for decades. Together, these countries sometimes referred to as “T5”, produced more than US$2.8 billion in tobacco export earnings in 2024, with Zimbabwe alone accounting for nearly half of this value. This could be seen as an economic success story, but rather this narrative hides a dark reality. Tobacco is deepening poverty, harming children, destroying forests, and driving long-term economic losses.
Our recent report outlines the Five Truths of Tobacco in Africa: Trouble, Tragedy, Trap, Trick, and Terrible. Each truth exposes how cultivation of this crop undermines development and why a shift to safer, more sustainable alternatives is urgently needed. This aligns with the principles of Article 17 and Article 18 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). Article 17 calls upon Parties to promote economically viable alternative activities to tobacco farming. Article 18 emphasizes the need to protect the environment and health of people involved in tobacco cultivation and manufacture.
Trouble for the economy
Although tobacco earns billions in foreign exchange for T5 countries, the economic losses it causes are far greater. Studies from the UN Development Programme show enormous national costs. For example, when the full costs of tobacco use—including health care expenditures, lost productivity, and premature mortality—are taken into account, the economic burden is substantial. Each year, these losses amount to an estimated 1.3% of GDP in Mozambique, 0.5% in Tanzania, and 1.2% in Zambia. These figures are likely conservative, as global estimates suggest that tobacco use costs economies around 1.8% of GDP.
Tobacco also takes up vast areas of fertile land at the expense of food and high-value crops. According to the Global Hunger Index, all five countries face “serious” hunger. Families also face food insecurity as tobacco displaces essential food crops. In Malawi, one hectare of tobacco land could produce up to 14.6 tonnes of potatoes, yet households remain food insecure while land continues to be used for leaf production. Redirecting this land could ease food insecurity and generate far greater household income. Alternatives such as beans, maize, and groundnuts require far less labour, produce higher net returns, and actually nourish communities.
Tragedy for families
The health burden from tobacco in the T5 countries is immense. Each year, tobacco kills 8,696 people in Zimbabwe, 7,142 people in Zambia, 21,800 people in Tanzania, 9,300 people in Mozambique, and 5,419 people in Malawi. Many of these deaths occur during the most productive years of life, driving households deeper into poverty. Children are especially vulnerable. In Malawi, children as young as five working on tobacco farms experience symptoms of acute nicotine poisoning, also known as green tobacco sickness.
Traps for farmers and children
Tobacco farming is often promoted as a pathway out of poverty, but the evidence shows the opposite. In Zambia, 72% of tobacco farmers are contract farmers trapped in debt to leaf buyers who provide and charge for inputs to start the glowing season but dictate the grade and price of tobacco. Additionally, these farmers are not adequately informed about the details of their contracts. Most of them do not have literacy skills to read the terms of the contract on their own and neither are they given a copy of their contract. They receive inputs on credit but have no control over grading or pricing, leaving many with financial losses.
Child labour is widespread. In Zambia, about 90% of child farm labour is in the tobacco sector. Zimbabwe has 50,000 small-scale growers of tobacco. More than half of these small-scale farmers employ children to work in the tobacco production. This results in children being absent from school during tobacco harvesting period in tobacco growing regions, undermining their long-term human development. In Malawi, child labour accounts for 23.3 percent in independent farms and 19.2 percent in contract farmers in leaf production.
These practices violate global commitments under WHO FCTC Articles 17 and 18, which call for protection of farmers and the environment.
Tricks to lure youth
Young people are now a major target for the tobacco industry across the T5 countries. The Global Youth Tobacco Survey in Zambia found that children aged 13–15 have easy access to cigarettes, with widespread single-stick sales, lack of age restrictions, and aggressive point-of-sale advertising.
In Malawi, companies use corporate social responsibility (CSR) schemes to build goodwill in communities—funding school blocks or donating materials—while simultaneously maintaining practices that deepen child labour and environmental harm. Investigations shows how such CSR schemes are used to obscure the real costs of reliance on tobacco.
With rising youth vaping and novel nicotine products, the risk of addiction is expanding. Africa is at risk of being the next frontier for nicotine dependence.
Terrible for the environment
Tobacco production is a major driver of deforestation and soil degradation in Southern Africa. Unsustainable agricultural practices of felling trees for both growing and curing the tobacco leaf as well as the use of harmful pesticides lead to deforestation, land and soil degradation. These practices worsen climate change impacts and undermine food security.
There are several viable alternative crops to tobacco. These include food crops such as maize, cassava, sorghum, and beans, legumes that restore soil health, agroforestry and timber crops, oil seeds such as sunflower and sesame, and non-farm enterprises including poultry, beekeeping and aquaculture. These alternatives require less labour, provide safer income for women and youth, and help countries reduce hunger and deforestation.
Governments can support this transition by aligning with the WHO FCTC, redirecting subsidies away from tobacco, and building markets for alternative crops.
The “Five Truths” of Tobacco for Africa reveal a stark contradiction. While the crop brings short-term export earnings, it creates long-term damage to economies, families, children, and ecosystems. The evidence is clear. Tobacco is not a development success story—it is a development trap. The time has come to shift investment, land, and labour toward healthier and more sustainable alternatives. With political will and support from civil society, regional institutions, and international partners, Africa can break free from the tobacco cycle and build a more resilient future.
You can read our report here.
Authors
Robert Mwale, Lead Researcher for Public Finance at Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) and Country Lead for the Tobacco Control Data Initiative (TCDI).
Leonce Sessou, Former Executive Secretary of the African Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA), 2019-2025.