During the late 19th century, few Greeks were involved in the tobacco
cultivation in the Southern Rhodesia. In 1904 George Odlum of the
Department of Agriculture was sent to the United States to study tobacco
culture; his report did much to establish tobacco growing on a sound
basis. Later, in 1907, as a result of a visit by Odlum to Greece and
Asia Minor, 14 Greek growers arrived in the Colony to found the Turkish
tobacco industry. The introduction of
Turkish tobacco in 1910 gave a market advantage to growers in the
north-eastern high veld, where climatic conditions had already proved
themselves more suited to tobacco growing than in the midlands.
Consequently, as the output rose from 100,000 pounds in 1910, the first
year of commercial production, to 3,062,000 pounds in 1913. From 1910 to
1913 almost the entire output was marketed in South Africa. In 1914 a
large consignment was sent to Britain.
