Tobacco cultivation: industry interference in Italy

The manufacturer British American Tobacco (BAT) has announced a purchase of 7,000 tonnes of tobacco from Italian production for the year 2021, with an investment of 20 million euros. This financial and communication operation is contrary to the principles of public health and good governance.[1].

The investment was announced at the event “Tobacco purchasing and sustainable supply chain: British American Tobacco’s commitment to the Italian tobacco sector”, co-organized by the manufacturer itself. This operation was carried out in collaboration with the General Confederation of Italian Agriculture, in the presence of Gian Marco Centinaio, Italian Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies in the government of Giuseppe Conte since 2018.

The economic and health scourge of tobacco in Italy

Over the past decade, BAT Italy has invested over 200 million euros in tobacco growing. Italy remains the leading tobacco producing country in the European Union, representing 30% of the total production of the latter, for around 50,000 tonnes of annual production. Furthermore, according to Italtab, a tobacco producers' organisation, tobacco growing involves over 400 companies across the country, 3,000 hectares of farmland and 10,000 workers, mainly concentrated in the Campania region. All of these figures presented by the tobacco industry are intended to promote it as a dynamic and profitable player in the country's economy. In reality, tobacco, in Italy as elsewhere, represents an unprecedented economic burden for public authorities, but also a health burden: every year, over 93,000 Italians die from smoking[2].

A social responsibility operation

Through the presence of the Minister, this financial operation was instrumentalized by the tobacco industry in order to establish itself as a credible responsible actor and partner of the public authorities. This event is also in fundamental opposition to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which prohibits any form of promotion of tobacco products and any social responsibility activity, but which encourages countries to promote economically viable alternatives for farmers, in order to gradually put an end to tobacco growing. Indeed, tobacco farms, requiring large resources in water and pesticides, are a permanent and major cause of soil and groundwater pollution. Furthermore, an investigation by The Guardian newspaper pointed out in 2019 the exploitation of asylum seekers in Italian tobacco fields, making it possible to mobilize cheap labor, in degraded sanitary conditions, working up to 12 hours a day.[3].

Keywords: Italy, Tobacco culture, Interference, Conte, Centinaio, CSR

Photo credit: ©FABIO FRUSTACI/EPA/Newscom/MaxPPP

©Generation Without Tobacco

[1] Efa News, British American Tobacco invests 20 million in Italy, 05/13/2021, (accessed 05/17/2021)

[2] Tobacco Atlas, Country: Italy, (accessed 05/17/2021)

[3] The Guardian, 'I had pain all over my body': Italy's tainted tobacco industry, 05/31/2021, (accessed 05/17/2021)

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