Tobacco Production Threatens Food Cultivation

Source from:  2006-06-03 09:03:26 Guardian By Lydia Shekighenda 06/05/2006

Production of tobacco in the country threatens the availability of food, particularly in the communities, which the crop is highly grown. Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Guardian, the Tanzania Tobacco Control Forum (TTCF) General Secretary, Lutgard Kagaruki, said the agricultural activity threatened food security because the farmers use most of their time working in the tobacco farms. "The farmers spend very little time in food crop production, and as a result they end up having no enough food," Kagaruki observed. She said that the areas where tobacco is grown most are fertile and allowed the cultivation of other food crops as well. "If well researched, tobacco growers could be assisted to shift to other crops including food or cash crops," Kagaruki said. She however, explained that tobacco production has led to the increasing extreme poverty in the areas. She said this was attributed by the non beneficial contracts, which the farmers were lured to sign with big tobacco growing companies. "Although tobacco production has been increasing every year but farmers have remained poor," she added. She said that the health of the tobacco producers was being affected by the chemicals used and the crop leaves. She said: "The most affected groups are children and women who are the major participants in this activity." "It has been learnt that in the areas where tobacco is highly produced 60 per cent of deaths recorded in hospitals are related to the impacts of tobacco," she said. Enditem