The Rise and Fall of Flue-Cured Tobacco in the Copán Valley and Its Environmental and Social Consequences

Abstract

From approximately 1952–1995 the Copan Valley in western Honduras was the site of intensive production of flue-cured tobacco. Local growers and laborers produced flue-cured tobacco for the transnational corporation, British-American Tobacco (BAT) under a contract farming arrangement. BAT introduced new tobacco varieties, cultivation techniques, mechanization and agrochemicals, as well as the flue-cured processing technique, and then purchased tobacco leaf for the manufacture of cigarettes in their Honduran subsidiary. Using ethnographic data and the interpretation of time series aerial photographs, this article documents the social and ecological impacts of this production system including extent of production, labor requirements, deforestation, exposure to agrochemicals and reinforcement of a hierarchical social system based on low-wage employment among landlessness agricultural workers. The paper also explores the reasons for, and consequences of, the decline of this system.