Mercy Milanoi @MissMilanoi
The country’s tobacco industry could ultimately go up in smoke if a drastic government initiative to end cigarette manufacture is implemented to the letter. Through a project to be rolled out under the Ministry of Health, tobacco farmers will be encouraged to plant alternative crops, preferably cash crops, in an effort to reduce raw material in the country.
Consequently, the government has set aside incentives for farmers ready to abandon tobacco farming and to progressively end smoking. According to Dorcas Kiptui, the Tobacco Control Unit head at the Ministry of Health, the alarming increase in numbers of tobacco-related deaths and effects on the environment have compelled the government to take drastic measures to curtail the industry.
“Kenya is a party to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the global health treaty to address the epidemic, now ratified by 180 countries,” she said.
According to the Ministry of Health, tobacco-related diseases are among the leading cause of premature deaths globally, accounting for nearly six million fatalities and about four per cent of the total deaths caused by disease annually.
In Kenya, around 6,000 people die of tobacco-linked diseases annually, yet more than 2,737,000 adults continue smoking. In an effort to mitigate this problem, Kenya ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control ( WHO-FTCC) in 2004 that compels signatories to ratify measures to control tobacco consumption and production.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, there are about 50,000 tobacco farmers in different tobacco growing areas, mainly in Migori, Bungoma and Meru counties. According to a survey by the International Institute for Legislative Affairs (IILA), most farmers enter into contracts with leaf buying companies, attracted by the “guaranteed” buyer concept.
They also receive the necessary agricultural inputs like fertiliser, seeds and herbicides without paying cash upfront. Speaking during the launch of the Economics of Tobacco Farming in Kenya report by IILA and the American Cancer Society, Jeffery Drope, the society’s vice president of Economic and Health Policy Research said: “The economic status of tobacco farmers in Kenya is very low because when you incorporate labour value, you find they operate at net loss.”
According to the Agriculture ministry, Kenya will not only be fulfilling its obligations to the WHO treaty but it will also be increasing its food security as farmers in the tobacco growing areas will be applying their skills to production of cash crops.
But Kiptui does not see instant red flags in tobacco manufacture as tobacco companies already import most of their leaf from other regional countries, mostly Uganda. “We know these companies produce harmful products, they too know they are harmful products and we are simply playing our role as the government to protect the health of our people,” said Kiptui.
She said, this may be a blessing in disguise for tobacco farmers as they would now have a chance to plant other types of crops.
The post State to ban tobacco farming in country appeared first on Mediamax Network Limited.