Tobacco cultivation worsen food insecurity ― WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said apart from tobacco harming health, tobacco growing, and production worsens food insecurity as well as contributing to the global food crisis in various ways globally.

The Country Representative of WHO, Dr. Walter Moulombo disclosed this in his goodwill message at the press briefing to commemorate the 2023 World No Tobacco Day in Abuja.

The 2023 World No Tobacco Day theme: ‘We Need Food: Not Tobacco’, is the day designated for both local, national and global communities to raise awareness of the harmful effect of tobacco use, exposure to tobacco smoke and other debilitating effects associated with tobacco, the debilitating health effect of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke as well as what government is doing to hold the tobacco industry accountable for the damages they cause.

Molumbo while highlighting some of the harmful effects of the crop, Moulombo said, tobacco kills half of its users and is responsible for more than 8 million deaths annually.

“More than 7 million deaths are a result of direct tobacco use while 1.2 million nonsmokers die from exposure to second-hand smoke.

“Firstly, every year, more than 3.5 million hectares of land are used to cultivate tobacco globally. This has contributed to deforestation of 200, 000 hectares per year. Secondly, tobacco growing entails a lot of resources including requiring the heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers, which contribute to soil degradation.

“Thirdly, since tobacco depletes soil fertility, land used for growing tobacco has a lower capacity for growing other crops, especially food crops.

“In addition, compared with other agricultural activities such as maize growing and even livestock grazing, tobacco farming has a far more destructive impact on ecosystems as tobacco farmlands are more prone to desertification.

“In the long term, these contribute significantly to climate change and damage the ecosystem,” he said.

Molumbo, therefore, called on governments and policymakers to develop and implement policies and strategies as well as provide enabling market conditions for tobacco farmers to move to grow food crops that would provide them and their families a better life.

He pointed out that, Articles 17 and 18 of the WHO framework convention on Tobacco control provide specific principles and policy options on the promotion of economically viable alternatives for tobacco workers, growers and individual sellers and enhancing the protection of the environment and the health of people respectively.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Olufunsho Adebiyi, explained that the theme for this year’s campaign which is, ‘We Need Food, Not Tobacco’ seeks to raise awareness about alternative crop production, marketing opportunities for tobacco farmers and encourage these farmers to grow sustainable, nutritious crops.

According to him, the day also aims to expose the tobacco industry’s efforts which are known to contribute to the global food crisis through interference with the government’s laudable policies that are geared at promoting viable, profitable and sustainable alternatives to tobacco growing.

“Although Nigeria is not a major producer of tobacco leaf in the world, the 2022 data from the Food and Agriculture Organization show that in the African Region, Nigeria ranks 9th position with an estimated 9,150 hectares of land used for tobacco farming.

“The reported tobacco farming states in Nigeria were Osun, Oyo, Kwara, and Sokoto States while, and the top 8 leading tobacco growing countries in Africa are Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya and Zambia.

Also, the Director of Public Health, Dr Morenikeji Alex Okoh said, this year’s global campaign specifically aims to raise public awareness of the need to embrace the cultivation of sustainable and nutritious crops in place of tobacco.

“The 2023 campaign also sought to discourage governments at all levels from providing incentives and subsidies for tobacco cultivation but rather to plough back these subsidies to support farmers to switch to more sustainable crops that improve food security,” She added.

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