AGM 2020

We were given the opportunity to sell our tobacco despite the COVID 19 pandemic that brought in many restrictions in some sectors. Tobacco still remains the best paying commodity of all crops in our Country and many others.

Abiel M Kalima Banda
ITGA President

In 2020, the global tobacco leaf production registered a 4% year-on-year volume decline. This negative record was in part attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic which caused major disruptions affecting manufacturers and consumers alike. 2021 is projected to bring back production growth but the underlying conditions will remain difficult. Working together is now more important than ever.

Ivan Genov
ITGA Tobacco Industry Expert

Despite to be grown in about a third of the total land availability in the farms, normally tobacco generates more than 50% of the cash generation in the farms; this show the relevance of thiscrop to the farmers and communities where is grown.

Carlos Palma
BAT Sustainable Agriculture Global Manager

Like every other CPG sector, the recent history and short term future evolution of the global tobacco industry will be dominated by the ongoing fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The presentation will show an up to the minute view of market trends through 2020 and discuss the longer term outlook for an industry being shaped by internal transformation and external forces.

Shane MacGuill
Euromonitor Head of Tobacco Research

Given declines in demand, tobacco growers are seeking alternative crops to replace declining tobacco income. While tobacco farmers in some areas may have some advantages, regulatory, political, and economic uncertainty create challenges within this emerging market.

William Snell
Co-Director, Kentucky Agricultural Leadership Program

How Can Digital Agriculture Save Money to Farmers

Farmers experience loss three times throughout the year – during the planning of the season, while making agronomic decisions in the season and later while selling crops due to non-sufficient quality. Digitalization helps farmers to make timely decisions, avoid risks and losses, and increase farming profitability by 50-100%.

Matija Zulj
AGRIVI CEO

The United Nations stated that in 2030, half of the world's population will live in regions with absolute or severe water shortages, and in 2050, the global demand for water for agriculture is estimated to increase by 19% more due mainly to needs irrigation, being that the practice uses 70% of the blue water extractions from the water courses and the groundwater is for agricultural use. In addition, we must increase the amount of food given the growing demand for them. From Kilimo, we address this problem, recommending HOW MUCH and WHEN to irrigate each plot to farmers, reducing the amount of water used by 20%, with real data and without installing any type of sensor in the field.

Rodrigo Tissera
Kilimo Head of Business

Where we are 20 years on since the establishment and our 2021 objectives moving towards preventing displacement of child labour between crops

Karima Jambulatova
ECLT Executive Director

By offering development opportunities, building knowledge based on the reality of the countryside and with the belief that the young are transformation agents of the reality itself and of the community, the results go beyond any expectation. In Brazil, this path has been trodden by the Growing Up Right Institute. In 5 years, 500 adolescents, boys and girls, have already benefited from the opportunities and broadened their horizons.

Nádia Fengler Solf
Growing Up Right Institute Manager

In recent years, EU tobacco sector has been subject to constant attacks by public authorities, based on the principle that everything related to the word "tobacco" should be destroyed. Meanwhile, as it is well known, tobacco growing is mostly carried out by small family farms that do not have many economic alternatives. Due to the enormous labor intensity, tobacco cultivation requires a lot of work and is based on paid employment. Thus, it contributes to economic development and overcoming unemployment in european cultivated regions.

Przemysław Noworyta
Unitab Secretary General

Used appropriately, CPA’s may increase yields and farm income. Used haphazardly, CPA’s could harm people and the environment and the crops marketability.

Gary Foote
Head of Global Sustainability for Alliance One (AOI)

In the last decade, regulatory environment around supply chain has evolved more than ever before. And yet, that is just the beginning.

UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011) were a tipping point for changes to come. What are the current trends and what can we expect?

The key message is that the regulatory expectations are rising and we all have a role to play.

 

Vuk Pribic
Leaf Supply Chain Due Diligence Director at Japan Tobacco International

Agricultural programs are critical for ensuring good outcomes for farmers in Zimbabwe. At the meantime, the tobacco sector is ridden with enormous challenges - from lack of education and limited profits to insignificant focus on farming communities and corruption. It is the joint responsibility of the government, tobacco farmers and the whole value chain to eradicate serious issues like child labour and enforce human rights policies.

Mayiwepi Jiti
Founder and President of Zimbabwe Integrated Commercial Farmers Union

For years tobacco growing has been one of the main agricultural activities in Colombia. However, in the last decade the planted area has dramatically decreased, making apparent the need for strategic alternatives to meet the needs of the tobacco growers.

Heliodoro Campos Castillo
Manager of the National Tobacco Fund in Colombia (FEDETABACO)

There is no universally agreed definition of sustainability, and there are different views on what it is and how it can be achieved. In the narrowest sense sustainability may be defined as: People, Planet, and Profit, or Social, Environmental, and Economic. In a broad sense sustainability may be defined as: a holistic view that addresses each aspect of a supply chain and its stakeholders: from the environmental impact of production; to the people participating in the supply chain; and to the socioeconomic conditions of those people and entities connected to the sourced material(s). Diversification at the farm level is an important tool that assists farmers achieving sustainable in their operations, while touching upon the economic, environmental and people pillars of a sustainability program.

Lea Scott
Vice President of Agronomy Services for Universal Leaf Tobacco Co