Tobacco Agriculture came about in 1625. As tobacco agriculture evolved it became the most important agricultural sector in Lebanon. In 1895, the manufacturing of cigarettes began in the villages of Hammana, Antelias, and Jawr-Al-Jawz. At that time, both tobacco agriculture and industry were under no government control. Prices of tobacco leaves decreased severely because of the competition among growers. The tobacco leaf growers were under forced rules put by the owners of factories, until put by the government (government took control). During the French mandate era, Syria and Lebanon followed the same policies as France which put the monopoly state through creating a special agency to manage the monopoly. In order to protect the growers and increase in tobacco prices assigned a management committee to control tobacco cultivation and industries for the future 25 years. This is when the “Regie Libanais des Taba” was created. The Regie is defined as direct management of public finance or public works by agents of the government for government account. It imports tobacco products into Lebanon. It clears imported tobacco products from customs and stores them in its warehouses, provides authority to international tobacco and tombac companies interested in marketing their products in Lebanon. It issues licenses to “chief distributors of tobacco products”, sells local and foreign tobacco products to “chief authorized distributors”, exports local tobacco products, and issues licenses to tobacco growers. Tobacco cultivation is one of the main agricultural crops in Lebanon, in particular, rural South Lebanon. Sixty percent of the residents depend on tobacco farming for their livelihood. Although to grow the tobacco, it makes use of only ten percent of the agricultural land. This is because tobacco is regarded as a safe product to sell because of the government’s support policy on the price of tobacco. For example, in the southern village “Bint Jbeil”, almost eighty-five percent of the population is involved in tobacco cultivation. There is a large number of “heads-of-households” (fifty percent) are with secondary education, while twenty five percent are illiterate. Tobacco cultivation highly requires hard work which is done by unpaid family members. The production of tobacco crops is controlled by the government. During the civil war, Lebanon was a significant manufacturer and exporter of heroin and hashish. In 1992, after being pressured by the U.S Interpol and the UN, the Lebanese government formally forbade poppy and cannabis cultivation, this ban was enforced by both the Lebanese and Syrian armies.
