All of the country s exported tobacco comes from the southern tobacco-growing states of Paran , Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. Growing tobacco is labor-intensive. While growing maize only takes 265 hours of labor per hectare, growing tobacco takes 3,000 hours of labor. Usually, the entire family is involved in tobacco cultivation. Tobacco companies have asked for changes in school schedules so that children will be available to work when their labor is needed in the fields.
Tobacco companies exert a great deal of control over farmers.
After signing a contract, farmers receive credit from the company to build drying houses to cure the harvested tobacco. Growers also must purchase seeds, fertilizers and pesticides from the tobacco company each season. The company determines the size of the area to be sown and the amount of fertilizers and pesticides to be used. To ensure that farmers are actually applying the fertilizers and pesticides, company inspectors visit the fields regularly. Costs of this technical assistance are added to the farmers bills.