Tobacco production has a very important place in the economy of Macedonia due to both economic and social reasons. Tobacco cultivars grown in the Republic of Macedonia are of Oriental origin, mainly of the types Prilep, Jaka and Basma. With a share of 3%, Macedonia is positioned among the eight major tobacco producing countries in the world. Of the total arable land in the country tobacco occupies 3,4% in the area under energy crops around 81.1% of the total area. The average area under tobacco cultivation in Macedonia in the period 2012-2015 was 16.962 ha. With an average yield of 1.270 kg/ha, the total production for the same period was 21.662 tons of Oriental tobacco, but it is presumed that it can achieve up to 35.000 tonnes. Tobacco's share in the total exports of Macedonia was 3.7% (Annual Statistics of RM for 2011). At first sight, this seems to be an insignificant segment in the foreign trade relations of the country, but its real value can be calcuated when we take into consideration that the total exports in 2015 was 20 663 tonnes of Oriental tobacco. The importance of tobacco for the Macedonian economy is even more obvious when compared to the total exports of agricultural products in 2015, in which it participated by over 22%. All activities and processes related to production of this crop are regulated by law (The Tobacco and Tobacco Products Act). According to the provisions of this Act, tobacco producers are allowed to use only certified seed material and the only authorised institution for production of such material is the Scientific Tobacco Institute in Prilep.

The aim of our investigation was to study the importance of tobacco production in Macedonia for economic and social reasons.