TOBACCO PEOPLE MALAWI
TOBACCO PEOPLE is a trademark of Sarah Hazlegrove Inc. Photographs copyright Sarah Hazlegrove Inc. 2013 Text copyright Sarah Hazlegrove Inc. 2013 Map copyright Lucy Hazlegrove 2013
The contents of this book are copyright. No portion of this book can be reproduced
without the written permission of Sarah Hazlegrove and Philip Morris International. Book design by Sarah Hazlegrove Map of Malawi designed by Lucy Hazlegrove Envelope design and special design assistance by Bill Hazlegrove
TOBACCO PEOPLE MALAWI
Sarah Hazlegrove
There is beauty in the rhythm of the growing and harvesting seasons. Seed to seed bed, harvest to curing. Growing tobacco is much the same no matter where you go; a familiar rhythm played out over the centuries and across many different lands. It is against this backdrop of sameness that the people and cultures, like colorful clouds against a blue sky, stand out, brilliant and unique.
CONTENTS
Malawi is callled ‘The Warm Heart of Africa’ . It is a beautiful and fertile country where more than 5 important tribes of Africa including the Chewa, Yao, Ngoni, Lomwe, Ngonde, Tumbuka and Sena, live peacefully together. Although organized production of tobacco in Nyasaland or Malawi, did not begin until the 1800’s the use of tobacco was noted in Madagascar, Sierra Leone and South Africa as early as the 16oo’s. Dutch missionaries who had established settlements in the territory were frustrated by the poor returns on coffee. They switched to tobacco and began the organized , systematic production of fire cured tobacco. The missionaries were not familiar with the cultivation of tobacco and learned from the various tribes how to plant , harvest and cure Nicotiana Rustica. The Africans called their tobacco Labu. They smoked their tobacco, using in large wooden communal pipes. The pipes were significant possessions of the chief and were often buried with him upon his death. Some of the largest pipes for smoking are said to have come from Africa. The most unconventional pipes were no more elaborate than holes dug in the ground that were filled with smoldering tobacco leaves. Tribal memebers would use long pieces of wood that they hollowed out to draw in the smoke from the pit. Labu was also frequently taken as snuff. The tribes of Malawi used tobacco for bartering and the way it was processed was unique to the individual tribes. The Yao braided their tobacco into twists, the Anyanja pound the tobacco into a powder then mixed it with water and made it into balls. The Chipetas and Ngoni made a similar mixture but formed it into pyramid shapes. Curing was done either by hanging the leaves in the rafters of their huts over top a smouldering fire or simply left outside to cure in the sun. Much of the early history of tobacco in Africa was not recorded. It was mentioned in passing as traders and Europeans moved into and colonized parts of Africa. Dr. David Livingstone made reference to seeing tobacco growing well within the borders of Nyasaland in the mid 1800’s. Tobacco was initially introduced to Eastern Africa by the Portuguese and probably arrived in Nyasaland/Malawi by way of Mozambique as early as the 1500’s. The Portuguese established a sea route around the Cape in 1488. Eventually, this more efficient way of reaching India and South East Asia enabled them to corner the profitable trade of spices in the 16th century, sur-planting the Venetians. The complicated route the Venetians had used for years required middlemen in India and Arabia to transfer the spices, silk and other goods across land to the Mediterranean where boats would pick up the cargo and carry it to Western Europe. The new route established by the Portuguese was faster and more efficient and the strategic position of Africa ‘en route’ to the Spice Islands proved profitable. Slaves and Ivory may have been the more famous items for trade but of equal importance from a global perspective were the plants that were brought ashore. The early trade routes caused non indigenous plants to be introduced to almost every continent on the planet. Tobacco, prized for it’s ability to stave of hunger and the belief that it had magical and medicinal properties, most especially it’s ability to cure a long list of diseases, adapted easily to the variety of soil s and climates along these routes. The search for exotic plants, minerals and textiles brought about the ‘Age Of Discovery” and the seafaring countries: Portugal, Spain , the Netherlands and England, through exploration and exploitation, changed the ecological, agricultural and cultural landscape of the planet forever
Nyasaland/ Malawi like many countries, has been shaped by conflict and commerce, it has also been transformed because of tobacco. From the colonial period to the present, tobacco has played an important role in Malawi’s development. Today, close to 2 million people hold tobacco related jobs and it accounts for almost 75% of the countries total economic revenue.
LAND PREPARATION/SEEDBEDS/FARMER TRAINING
Kabwafu October 2012
L AND PREPARATION
An abandoned ant hill is plowed and ready for planting. Large ant hills such as these are found throughout Malawi. The soil is rich in nutrients and because most farmers plow by hand, they are able to easily navigate the mounds and plant in circular rows.
A worn path cuts through the tobacco field and ends at the river.
Only about 5% of the farmers in Malawi can afford a plow and oxen.
Some farmers walk as far as 15 Km to take part in training sessions organized by Limbe Leaf.
November 2012
Farmer training days are well attended and allow farmers direct contact with agronomists and technicians.
Important techniques are demonstrated that help save time and insure better crops. Using bamboo sticks a technician makes an ‘A’ frame to demonstrate an easy method for spacing tobacco seedlings when planting.
Men andCARRY womenBUCKETS take turns bringing waterFROM from the river to a seedbed Lilongwe. WOMEN OF WATER THE RIVER TO THEnear SEEDBED.
SEEDBEDS
Planting close to a source of water insures food crops and tobacco seedbeds are adequately watered during the dry season.
A narrow path between planted spinach and tobacco seedbeds alllows just enough space for farmers who have gathered for a demonstration. On the other side of the thatched fence lies an explosion of green.
Agronomists and field technicians explain the importance of uniformity. Young tobacco plants plants are meticulously trimmed with shears to maintain the proper height.
Notches scored on the sides of a squared off board, indicate proper spacing between seedlings.
Seedlings taken from the ‘mother bed’ are transplanted into a second seedbed before being planted in the field.
A perfectly trimmed seedbed.
WIth trimmings held to his chest, a farmer, in a posture of respect, returns the shears to the field technician.
Farmers take the information they have learned and begin to prepare the soil for planting. Dowa, November 2011
The same village in Dowa 6 months later. March 2012
There are two distinct sectors of agriculture in Malawi, the large commercial or estate farms and smallholder farms. Estate farms are much larger operations and their existence dates back to the Colonial period. While the size of estate farms can be several thousand hectares, the average smallholder farm is about 3-5 hectares. Although much larger in comparison to smallholder farms, farmers and labourers still rely on the same simple tools. As a result, the basic steps in growing tobacco in Malawi look much the same. The one obvious difference is the volume of tobacco grown and the scale of production.
ESTATE FARMS/ SMALLHOLDER FARMS
Waves of strpped tobacco stalks lay between the barns. Namitete March 2012
ESTATE FARMS
Within three weeks, the transplanted seedlings are flourishing in the field at this ‘Alliance One’ operation in Kusungu. November
Moving methodically, row by row, workers remove suckers from each plant.
Topping tobacco soon after the flower begins to appear increases yield and the overall body of the plant.
What started in the seedbeds is realized in the fields of this large commercial farm in Kusungu. November
Tractors pull scaffolds laden with tobacco back to the large curing barns.
The top leaves are the last to be harvested.
Wire clips hold the tobacco leaves firmly together and are loaded on the scaffolds
With several dozen empty clips, a field worker starts another row of harvesting.
Kusungu March 2012
A worker at a large commercial operation near Kusungu carries empty tobacco sticks back to the storage area.
Back and forth from the curing barn to the holding barn, sticks heavy with the weight of cured tobacco, are emptied and the leaves arranged into large piles.
Empty clips are wrapped with strips of tree bark and will be stored till next year.
Cured tobacco leaves hang togethe. They sorted by their quality. Industry representatives estimate that 75% of the market value of the tobacco leaf is based on the color.
No part of the tobacco plant is waisted. Women separate by hand the larger parts of the plant. The turning sieve then separates even the finest pieces in to piles.
A group of women with bundles of fire wood, vegetables and corn, head back to their homes to prepare the afternoon meal.
A worker sews the cured and pressed leaves in to a bale.
Hands of cured tobacco are sorted before being baled.
The cured and sorted leaves are pressed before being sewn into a bale.
Uprooted tobacco plants lay at the edge of a tenant farmers home on a commercial farm.
Workers carefully hang sticks laden with Burley tobacco in a large commercial barn. In eight or more weeks the tobacco will be graded and baled and be ready for auction.
Namitete March 2012
A tenant farmer and his wife carefully sort their tobacco into hands. Proper management of curing barns is crucial to the outcome of the quality of the leaf.
A bed is installed in the rafters of the curing barn so that the farmer can protect his tobacco from thieves.
A meticulously maintained barn of Burley.
Coal is used to heat this large curing facility near Michinji. Taking a break for lunch, the worker heats a pot of beans under the door of the furnace.
Tall stacks of wood lay outside a large commercial facility for flue cured tobacco in Kusungu.
Tobacco scaffolds lay empty in this large curing facility. The cages roll on tracks that sit atop enclosed heating ducts .
An old brick curing barn has been converted to be more fuel efficient . It stands behind metallic bulk barns at this commercial operation in Kusungu.
SMALLHOLDER FARMS
The average smallhoder farmer farms about 4 hectares of land which he divides in to 1-1.5 hectare plots. To help maintain important nutrients in the soil, rotating tobacco one year with maize and then legumes over the next two years helps maintain the proper level of nutrients in the soil.
Newly harvested leaves are hung on sticks before being hung in the curing barn.
A day labourer sorts leaves that will later be sewn together.
Each individual leaf is sewn together by hand with string.
Tobacco sticks laden with flue cured tobacco are arranged in the rafters of the curing barn.
Burley tobacco hangs for 6-8 weeks in the curing barn before midrib drying in the holding barn.
Mchinji , March 2012
Kusungu March 2012
Leaves at varying stages in the curing process are a mosaic of color.
Unharvested Burley stands next to a curing barn full of golden brown leaves.
In years past, the best plant in the field was left to go to seed. The seeds were then planted the following year. With advances in seed research and development this technique is no longer practiced. The importance of good seeds cannot be under-estimated. Disease and draught resistant strains of tobacco reduce the amount of pesticides and fertilizers needed to grow a healthy crop.
A technician has uprooted a sample from the field to use when talking to the farmers about root conditions.
A field Technician from Limbe Leaf, sits on the front door step with a farmer. Some field technicians work with over 500 different farmers throughout the year, teaching them new and better methods for growing tobacco, food crops and trees.
The heating ducts in rocket barns provide a more efficient and consistent flow of warm air throughout the barn interior.
Brick channels and galvanized sheeting create the network of heating ducts in a rocket barn.
Using rocket barns to cure flue cured tobacco cuts consumption of wood by 25% to 30%
Kabwafu March 2012
Independent Buyer in his store, just off the main road heading to Lilongwe on the M5.
INDEPENDENT BUYERS / THE AUCTION FLOOR
Independent buyers, or IB’s play a pivotal role in the lives of the farmers. They are indirectly tied to the auction system in that the IB will buy a farmers tobacco at a much lower price than what he would get at auction. Too often farmers find themselves struggling and cannot wait till the auction floor opens in March. The IB takes a gamble hoping he will get a higher price at auction, than what he bought it for. Inevitably the farmer suffers a loss for his hard work. Farmers that work under contract, have the ongoing support of the tobacco suppliers, produce a higher quality tobacco, and have greater financial security during the year. There are only two remaining countries in the world that still use the auction system for the sale of tobacco, Malawi and Zimbabwe. With the global market controlling prices, and the majority of growers worldwide working under contract, it is one of the unique aspects of the tobacco culture in Malawi that sets it apart from other tobacco growing communities worldwide.
Bales are marked with a farmer’s registration number before going to auction.
An Independent Buyers store front near Mchinji
Workers stack hands of tobacco in the receiving station of an Independent buyer.
An independent buyer pays a farmer for his tobacco
Men gather with their sons at an IB’s store near Kusungu.
Piles of tobacco wait to be weighed before being baled.
Each bale should weigh 90 kilos
A group of men at the IB’s store help he farmer make bales of the loose tobacco.
Pressing the leaves makes bales more compact and uniform.
Using his cellphone caluclator, an IB negotiates what he is willing to pay a farmer for his tobacco.
THE AUCTION FLOOR . Lilongwe March 2012
After the bales have been brought to the floor, cut open and auctioned off, teams of workers move trhough the rows resewing each bale. They are then moved off the floors and taken back to the storage area to be stored before being shipped off to the buyer.
Running from the storage area out to the auction floor, then back again to storage, teams of barrow runners race each other down the marked lanes, sometimes toppling their cargos. Each bale weighs 90 kilos. A team of barrow runners moves between 4000 and 10,000 bales a day or up to 450,000 tons of tobacco.
There is a unique sense of competition and camraderie on the auction floor. From the fast clucking of the auctioneer moving with buyers and sellers up and down rows of tobacco, to the runners racing back and forth with bales on their carts, whistling and turning their work in to sport, the anticipation of the sale is strongly felt by everyone. The pace is dizzying.
The volume of tobacco is low at the beginning of the auction season.
Farmers stand patiently near their bales, waiting for the auctioneer to pass.
After the auctioneer and his team have moved up and down the rows, workers follow behind picking up the fallout tobacco that has fallen to the ground.
In poorer and emmerging countries where the stress of over population and old habits of survival are often in direct conflict with conservation efforts, sustainability must be taught. Proper crop management as well as reforestation are two areas of concern where educated farmers, their families and villages can affect an enormous change. It is the collective efforts of the farmers with the government, tobacco companies, world health organizations and the expetise of NGO’s such as Total Landcare that are bringing about shifts in thinking as well as results in the conservation and proper use of natural resources. In 2012, 67 smallholder farmers produced 4.9 million seedlings. They produced Senna Simea, Acacia, three species of Eucalyptus and two indigenous species, Arbizia Lewbeck and Bauhinia Thownnigii. The biggest challenge in reforestation programs is the follow up and monitoring of newly planted trees. The target rate for survival is 70%, however, without sufficient monitoring, the survival rate can drop.
SUSTAINABILITY
“The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.�
- Wendell Berry,
The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture
Tobacco, corn, and groundnuts are planted side by side at a smallholders farm in Dowa.
A ‘live barn’ is made by planting trees in the outline of a curing barn, The rafters and roof are attached to the living trees, A ‘live barn’ is a stronger barn and eliminates unnecessary tree cutting.
A seedbed facility in the Viphya. A joint project of Philip Morris International A SEEDLING FARM IN THE VIPHYA and Total Landcare. Reforestation and forest management are ibeginning to make a deifference in Malawi.
The viphya is one of the largest man made forests in the world. However, in recent years poor forest management has resulted in uncontrolled deforestation,
Wood for fuel programs like the one developped in the Viphya by Total Landcare and Philip Morris International are the model for sustainable wood production.
A Smallholder farmer , with the assistance of Limbe Leaf, has begun growing tree seedlings.
THE FAMILIES
KAMBALAME
Salateyere Kambalame sits with his wife Lezine Julias Kambalame on the front porch of their home several kilometers north of Lilongwe. Attached to their house is their curing barn where recently harvested tobacco lays ready to hang in the rafters. Salateyere began growing tobacco in 1996 and with close to two decades of hard work and good returns on his tobacco, he is by local standards a very successful man. He has 4 goats, 3 cows, an ox cart, a tea room that he has built near the road and he has provided for his 8 children and their children these past 20 years. Salateyere and Lezine make a good team. She is a hard worker and cooks meals for the labourers that help Salateyere in the fields. She runs the tearoom as well. The success of the smallholder farmer is dependent on several factors, but perhaps more than any one of them, is the strength of his labor force. The one place where that kind of dedication is found is within the family. This past year Salateyere and Lezine lost their two oldest sons to AIDS. They were 26 and 30 years old. The loss for the family has been devastating. The eldest daughters are now helping their father in the fields, but they are also responsible for seeing to the needs of their brothers children who now live with them and their own children.
GONWE Kate Gonwe stands in her bedroom with her two daughters. She and her husband Banda have six children. They have been growing tobacco for seven years. Kate’s house is organized and meticulous, two aspects of Kate’s personality that have served her well as a farmer. Like many in Malawi, Kate and her family carved out a meagher living on maize, groundnuts and other vegetables. The majority of what they produced fed the family, anything leftover they tried to sell. Kate is ambitious and seeing that other farmers in her village were having success farming tobacco, Kate decided to try growing it herself. Her first year was not easy , in fact she says she was disappointed. She realized that she would need more money for pesticides and fertilizer to produce a healthy crop and that she also needed training. Tobacco, she realized , took more work than other crops but she could see that the hard work had benefits. With assistance from Limbe Leaf, she was able to get the necessary training and financial support and soon had a contract to grow tobacco for them. Kate was dedicated to learning and within the first three years of growing high quality tobacco, she and her husband were able to build a new house. They bought livestock and an ox cart. They also purchased a maize mill. The mill grinds maize to a much finer texture than can be done by hand and women from the surrounding villages come to her house regularly and for a few Kwacha, pay to have their maize ground. Kate’s four sons also work with her and her husband . Her youngest recently built a small store at the edge of their property where he sells drinks, crackers and other goods. They also employ several people who are happy to work for Kate and her family because they pay good wages. This year was an especially good year for Kate and her family. They were able to buy a truck. WIth all of her success growing tobacco, Kate does not want her children to be farmers. She has higher hopes for their futures and sees that tobacco has helped them on their way.
BANDA
Tennyson and Aida Banda pose in their living room in Kabwafu. Kabwafu is one of the largest tobacco producing areas in northern Malawi. Aida took mosquito netting, treated with repellant and stapled it to the walls of their livingroom. She says the netting has helped with the mosquito problem and she likes how it looks. With over 5 million cases of malaria recorded on average each year in Malawi, new measures to reduce the number of infections is of great importance. Tennyson and Aida have grown tobacco for twelve years. They have built a new house, bought an ox cart, a TV with a satelite dish and solar panel over these last twelve years. More importantly, with the profits they have made from tobacco they can more easily pay the school fees for their 6 children. They employ, on average, 10 workers from their village to help them with their crops. They hope to buy a truck this year from their tobacco earnings.Most of Tennyson and Aida’s children are girls. They hope that their daughters will grow up educated and have a better life. They would like them to be nurses and have steady jobs. The money they earn today gives them hope for their futures.
MPHANDE Tedson Mphande and his wife Onester live about an hours drive from Mzuzu. Like most of the farmers in Malawi, they live deep in the countryside.The dirt roads that have no markers, wind and twist back through scrub trees and tall grasses. The narrow roads are the worn footpaths connecting villages that have widened over time. They are little wider than an ox cart and trucks get stuck often when they try to reach these remote areas. Tedson and Onester have lived in this area most of their lives. Their six grown children and their families live very close by and are always on hand to help their parents with work in the fields. Tedson has grown tobacco for 23 years. He still grows groundnuts and maize, as well as other vegetables, but it has been tobacco that has made the biggest impact on their lives. Like so many of the successful tobacco farming families, they have built new homes, for themselves as well as their children, bought livestock and an ox cart, and they hope to buy a truck this year. More than anything, Tedson and Onester want their chidlren and grandchildren to have a better life. For now, tobacco is the one sure thing that they can depend on. WIth hard work and good planning, they hope that their grandchildren will have better opportunities and better jobs when they are older. Onester Mphande takes care of her grandchildren while the rest of the family works in the fields.
THE COMMUNITIES
The children of a nearby village hang on the wooden poles that once made up the frame for a curing barn. The newer barns stand a few meters behind them
It is not possible to have a realistic understanding of why a crop like tobacco is so important to farming communities until you take a deeper look in to the lives of the people who depend on such crops to sustain them. As Nkosi Perembe of the Ngoni tribe of Kabwafu says, “tobacco pays the bills�. The profits from one hectare of tobacco are higher than multiple hectares of either maize or groundnuts, two of the most important food crops grown in Malawi. With a population that exceeds 10 million, and only about 40% of the dry land of Malawi suitable for farming, it is easier to understand why each hectare and how it is managed is critical to the well being of the family, the village and the communities at large. One in five Malawian households derives a substantial share of their cash income directly from tobacco. The money helps farmers buy seeds for food crops, pay for school fees for their children, make improvements on their homes and farms and also provides the extra income to get them started in other businesses. Agricultural communities such as Malawi could easily slip into a subsistance only existance if it were not for tobacco.
A woman grinds maize using traditional methods. She will then pay to have her maize ground to a finer consistency to make the Nsima that she and her family eat at every meal. Maize accounts for approximately 55% of the total daily caloric intake of the average Malawian.
Farmers stand in line, hands of tobacco scattered on the ground, waiting to make bales at a makeshift press on the side of the road.
Flying ants are an excellent source of protein and are eaten alive or grilled. During the rainy season, traps are constructed on top of the ant hills which help catch larger quantities of the insects. A bag of grilled ants costs about 5oo Kwacha or 2 dollars. and are sold at the market or on the side of the road.
The signage on buildings in Malawi is at times philospohical and amusing.
Market Lilongwe March 2012
A blindman sells a few onions at the Mtundu Market, March 2012 Facing Page: A woman sells home made snuff . Mtundu Market March 2012
Chewing on slivers of suagr cane, a wood peddlar heads to the market. Heavy loads of tobacco, wood, coal, animals even large pieces of furniture are often transported by bicycle.
Butchers at Mtundu Market March 2012
“The Big Dance� Guli Wamkulu claim to be the guardians of their dead who lead them to the other side and protect them. These dancers are part of a secret society in Malawi and are said to live in graveyards. It is expected that you give the dancers some small amount of money, lest he should put a spell on you. It is not adviseable to dance with a Guli. They are to be respected. Their presence usually marks an important moment in village life.
A group of boys return from gathering grass and weeds from the fields. The grass will be used to feed the goats and cows at their house.
Dancers from the Ngoni tribe perform traditional dances.
Children at a school supported by Philip Morris in Chifuka Village greet visitors with singing and dancing. March 2012
On the road back to Lilongwe from Salima
ZIKOMO
SPECIAL THANKS Philip Morris International Universal Leaf in Malawi -Limbe Leaf Alliance One Tobacco Control Commission Malawi Auction Holdings Lilongwe Lucy Hazlegrove Bill Hazlegrove Barbara Martellini Tom Sawyer Rod Haggar Charlie Graham Fritz Bossert Loyd Barker Cedric The staff at the Limbe Leaf Guesthouse
It has been about 18 years since we stopped growing tobacco at ‘Forkland’, our family’s farm in Cumberland County, Virginia.. The weathered old barns are still standing. The tobacco sticks piled in the corners of the tobacco barns are gathering cobwebs and make perfect fortresses for field mice. The fire pits which once cradled logs that would burn for days are now covered with tarps. A variety of discarded objects, the flotsam and jetsam of farm life, empty seed bags, fertilizer, odd parts to old trators litter the charred and pock marked floors. The sunken graves of our tobacco past. Tobacco was an integral part of the lives of my ancestors. It was a relationship between man and this singular plant that was shared by nearly everyone in colonial Virginia and one that made a long lasting mark on my own family for centuries. My fascination with this powerful plant could be called an addiction. I miss the spicy smell of dark fired tobacco curing in the barns, and even though I love the smell of cigar and pipe tobacco, I was never a real smoker. What draws me in to tobacco is it’s history. Its resliency against all odds. It’s just a plant, but one that has shaped economically, historically even geographically almost every country on the planet for hundreds of years. As a photographer I feel strongly that documenting the changes in tobacco cultivation is of historical significance. I realized perhaps too late the importance of photographing the changes that were taking place at our own famly farm. A big part of our family’s history disappeared before I was able to create an archive of images or preserve the stories. It was this realization that led me to begin a personal journey in to the lives of other tobacco growing families around the world. Tobacco People started in Virginia, the Connecticut River Valley and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. With the generous support of Philip Morris International, the
Sarah and Kate Gonwe Kabwafu October 2012
project has expanded to include Brazil, Indonesia and Malawi. The cultivation of tobacco is much the same no matter where you go. There is a familiar rhythm that is played out over the growing and harvesting season that is familiar amongst the farmers. It is against the backdrop of sameness, of familiarity, that the people, the cultures and at times the plant itself, like clouds against a blue sky stand out brilliant and unique.
THE MAP FOR TOBACCO PEOPLE MALAWI WAS MADE BY LUCY HAZLEGROVE. SPECIAL ASSISTANCE AND ENVELOPE DESIGN BILL HAZLEGROVE
Tobacco People ‘Malawi ‘ was made possible by the generous support of Philip Morris International.