We firmly agree that children must never be exploited, exposed to danger or denied an education. We do not employ children in any of our operations worldwide and make it clear to all of our contracted farmers and suppliers that exploitative child labour will not be tolerated. We are a founding member and supporter of the Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing Foundation (ECLT) and this is helping to make a difference in Malawi...We prefer to work as closely as possible with tobacco farmers - as we do with the 160,000 growers worldwide who are directly contracted to supply the majority of the leaf we buy. This relationship enables us to offer farmers advice and support not only relating to their crops and their land but on social issues such as exploitative child labour. Regrettably, the way the tobacco industry is structured in Malawi means we are not allowed to work directly with the farmers...In some cases we are four or five steps removed from the growers themselves – with small-scale farmers selling tobacco to their landowners, who then sell it at auction to international dealers who then sell it on to us.