Tobacco Asia

58 tobaccoasia Issue 6, 2026 November / December Staff report The tobacco sector is changing, but for growers the transformation is often less about new products and more about the increasingly difficult conditions surrounding production. Weather extremes, rising costs, uncertain markets, changing regulations, and shifts in the global tobacco business are creating challenges that differ from country to country but increasingly converge around one ques- tion: how sustainable is tobacco growing for the farmers who supply the industry? Those issues came into sharp focus at the 2026 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the In- ternational Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA). The meeting brought together country-level reports that provided a detailed picture of conditions facing growers across major producing regions. Taken together, the reports show an industry dealing with very different local circum- stances, but with a common need for predictable markets, viable returns, and recognition of growers' economic interests. For ITGA and its members, that perspective is important because discussions about to- bacco policy often focus on consumption, products, and regulation. The growers' reports put the emphasis further upstream, where decisions about markets, taxation, production, and regula- tion eventually affect farmers deciding what to plant, how much to invest and whether tobacco remains economically viable. A difficult season in Brazil Brazil illustrates the importance of giving growers a direct voice in the tobacco-policy debate. The country combines a strong tobacco control framework with one of the world's most important tobacco-producing economies, particularly in the southern states. The ITGA member report shows that Brazilian growers faced a difficult 2025/26 market- ing season. Several tobacco-producing areas experienced good vegetative development and plant health, helped by timely rainfall, but other areas suffered from prolonged cold, frost, excess moisture, strong winds, heavy rainfall, hail, and drought. These conditions affected yields, crop uniformity, and leaf quality. Growers Under Pressure Virginia's tobacco fields remain a key part of the US tobacco-growing landscape, where growers face weather- related uncertainty and changing production conditions. Credit: Emw, CC3.0. "How sustainable is tobacco growing for the farmers who supply the industry?"

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