The British South Africa Company (BSAC) developed an interest in tobacco production for colonial economic growth. Originally, the Company concluded that this tobacco had no export value since its flavour was alien to British consumers. Consequently, British settler farmers began to cultivate ‘superior’ varieties of Tabacum (flue-cured, Turkish, and fire-cured).
Tobacco became second only to gold in aggregate value of all exports in Southern Rhodesia between 1916 and 1947, accruing nearly 43 million pounds sterling.
The further development of tobacco production in Southern Rhodesia was a result of World War II and an imbalance of trade. The United States was the largest player in flue-cured tobacco used in the production of cigarettes. As demand for cigarettes increased, the market was open for any country that could supply enough to meet a reciprocal trade. Southern Rhodesia emerged as a principal beneficiary because it could provide reciprocal trade to the United Kingdom.
By 1954, Southern Rhodesia produced 132 million pounds (or more than 10% of total free world exports). If Southern Rhodesia had not entered the market, the United States would have been the world’s largest supplier of tobacco. By 1961, of the £55.6 million total value of agricultural production tobacco contributed 56 per cent of that value.
Stamps & Postal Products
1953 Definitive Series – 1d Tobacco Planter
1964 Definitive Series – 2d Tobacco
References
- Beyond Agency: The African Peasantry, the State, and Tobacco in Southern Rhodesia (Colonial Zimbabwe), 1900–80 – Elijah Doro & Sandra Swart
- Rhodesian Tobacco: What it Means to the American Farmer