Tobacco growing harms our health, the health of farmers and the planet’s health. The tobacco industry interferes with attempts to substitute tobacco growing, contributing to the global food crisis.
This campaign encourages governments to end tobacco growing subsidies and use the savings to support farmers to switch to more sustainable crops that improve food security and nutrition.
The key measure of campaign success would be the number of governments that pledge to end subsidies on tobacco growing.
Governments should accelerate the implementation of Articles 17 and 18 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and its guidelines that outline how governments can support farmers by offering technical advice on agriculture to farmers, linking them to necessary supplies and services to support their agricultural production, providing financial support to increase production of healthy food, and divesting away from tobacco and towards alternative crops.
Read more on country practices in the implementation of Article 17 here.
Governments should recognize the additional burden placed on low- and middle-income countries to grow tobacco for consumption in high-income countries. High income countries that import tobacco need to incorporate tobacco control, including for alternative livelihoods to tobacco, as part of their development cooperation strategies. They must support alternative livelihood to tobacco growing initiatives which align with other commitments to support the health, environment and economies of low- and middle-income countries and least developed countries.
Groups should develop and share global and regional best practices, as well as educational programmes and information campaigns backed by data and evidence to prevent any attempt of the tobacco industry to misinform farmers and to help promote viable options available to tobacco growers and workers to shift to sustainable alternative livelihoods. They can also generate awareness amongst farmers to understand the negative health, environmental, social and economic effects associated with tobacco growing.
For example, various initiatives under the Digital India Programme by the Government such as “Digital Village”,”Common Service Centres”, “e-Health”, e-education” etc. can be used for education, awareness and advocacy for tobacco farmers.
Advocates are encouraged to call out the government for supporting tobacco production in low- and middle-income/least developed countries, especially those that are facing food insecurity and contributing to global food crisis, and for not walking the talk on tobacco control including alternative livelihoods as part of development cooperation.
Civil society organizations can expose industry efforts to impede efforts to support tobacco farmers to shift to alternative livelihoods as well as their efforts to greenwash their tactics.
Microfinance institutions can ensure that rural credit programmes benefit tobacco growers who are looking to shift so they can be supported to purchase inputs needed to grow alternative crops.
UN Agencies should work together to address SDG Targets 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 (improve food security and nutrition), SDG Target 3a (implementation of WHO FCTC), SDG Target 13 (combat climate change) and SDG Target 17 (strengthen partnership for sustainable development). This can be achieved by establishing enabling crop production and marketing ecosystems to support farmers to shift from tobacco to alternative crops.
Private sector market players can help shape the market for sustainable alternative crops by incentivizing farmers who shift by providing support along the value chain, including on inputs, post-harvest handling, aggregation and offtake.
A record 349 million people across 79 countries are facing acute food insecurity, many are in low- and middle-income countries. Over 30 are on the African continent. Many of these countries use large areas of fertile land to grow tobacco rather than healthy food. Tobacco growing countries often face a negative economic impact due to the adverse health, environmental and social impacts of growing tobacco. In many cases, foreign exchange earned from tobacco exports is used to import food. Growing tobacco causes ill health among farmers and farm workers and irreversible environmental loss of precious resources such as water sources, forests, plants and animal species.
Tobacco is grown in over 124 countries as a cash crop, using an estimated 3.2 million hectares of fertile land.
The top 3 tobacco leaf growers (China, Brazil and India, in order of production) account for over 60% of global production. As regulations tighten in middle- and high-income countries, tobacco companies are increasingly targeting African countries to scale-up tobacco leaf production.
Trapping farmers in a cycle of debt. The tobacco industry keeps farmers dependent by providing them with incentives, such as loans or supplies needed to grow tobacco like seeds and agrochemicals. Often under contractual arrangements with the tobacco industry, farmers are then trapped in a vicious circle of debt, unable to get a fair price for their product. Tobacco companies are able to do this because there is a lack of rural credit available.
Tobacco-Free Farms is a joint initiative of the World Health Organization, World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture, that has launched in Kenya. The initiative aims to create an enabling and supportive crop production and marketing ecosystem to help farmers shift from tobacco growing to alternative livelihoods. Roughly 1500 farmers have shifted to growing high-iron beans, but other good alternatives to tobacco include sorghum, millet and sweet potato. More on the initiative here.
Governments in tobacco growing countries. Governments should accelerate the implementation of Articles 17 and 18 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and its guidelines that outline how governments can support farmers by offering technical advice on agriculture to farmers, linking them to necessary supplies and services to support their agricultural production, providing financial support to increase production of healthy food, and divesting away from tobacco and towards alternative crops.
Read more on country practices in the implementation of Article 17 here.
Governments in countries that do not grow tobacco and only import tobacco leaf. Governments should recognize the additional burden placed on low- and middle-income countries to grow tobacco for consumption in high-income countries. High income countries that import tobacco need to incorporate tobacco control, including for alternative livelihoods to tobacco, as part of their development cooperation strategies. They must support alternative livelihood to tobacco growing initiatives which align with other commitments to support the health, environment and economies of low- and middle-income countries and least developed countries
Advocacy groups in tobacco growing countries. Groups should develop and share global and regional best practices, as well as educational programmes and information campaigns backed by data and evidence to prevent any attempt of the tobacco industry to misinform farmers and to help promote viable options available to tobacco growers and workers to shift to sustainable alternative livelihoods. They can also generate awareness amongst farmers to understand the negative health, environmental, social and economic effects associated with tobacco growing.
For example, various initiatives under the Digital India Programme by the Government such as “Digital Village”,”Common Service Centres”, “e-Health”, e-education” etc. can be used for education, awareness and advocacy for tobacco farmers.
Advocates from tobacco importing countries. Advocates are encouraged to call out the government for supporting tobacco production in low- and middle-income/least developed countries, especially those that are facing food insecurity and contributing to global food crisis, and for not walking the talk on tobacco control including alternative livelihoods as part of development cooperation.
Civil society. Civil society organizations can expose industry efforts to impede efforts to support tobacco farmers to shift to alternative livelihoods as well as their efforts to greenwash their tactics.
Microfinance institutions. Microfinance institutions can ensure that rural credit programmes benefit tobacco growers who are looking to shift so they can be supported to purchase inputs needed to grow alternative crops.
UN Agencies. UN Agencies should work together to address SDG Targets 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 (improve food security and nutrition), SDG Target 3a (implementation of WHO FCTC), SDG Target 13 (combat climate change) and SDG Target 17 (strengthen partnership for sustainable development). This can be achieved by establishing enabling crop production and marketing ecosystems to support farmers to shift from tobacco to alternative crops.
Private sector market players. Private sector market players can help shape the market for sustainable alternative crops by incentivizing farmers who shift by providing support along the value chain, including on inputs, post-harvest handling, aggregation and offtake.
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