Tobacco Slave

In Africa, tobacco farmers can become entangled in a cycle of debt and poverty amounting to slavery. Tobacco companies control the entire process—from granting loans for fertilizer and seeds to setting the price the farmer is paid at harvest. Because farmers don’t earn enough to employ workers, or even to afford gear to protect against sharp tools and chemicals, they often pull children from school to perform the dangerous work of tobacco farming.

“Tobacco Slave” is a first-of-its-kind film exposing the plight of tobacco farmers in Malawi and letting them share, in their words, what a life of growing tobacco is really like. Additional shorts provide context around the dangers of child labor and a blueprint for farmers to transition away from tobacco into nutritious crops that can feed the farmers, their families and communities.