Nigeria: 10,000 Tobacco Growers'' Livelihood Threatened

Source from:  Business Day  10/31/2012

As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to celebrate World Tobacco Growers Day, Nigeria Independent Tobacco Association (NITA) has said that livelihood of 10,000 growers are threatened if the proposals by the World Health 0rganisation's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) scale through.

Also, 30 million tobacco growers and farm workers worldwide would be threatened in two weeks' time when the proposals are favoured at the WHO's meeting in Seoul, South Korea.

Rasheed Bakare, chairman, NITA, said in Iseyin that if the draconian measures become law, they would have dire impact on the livelihood of growers in the country, and over N500 million being contributed to the local economy annually.
According to him, as we celebrate the benefit our farms bring to our communities, we are also asking our leaders to stand with us to hear our voices and give us the opportunity to work together to protect our way of life.

NITA, which is marking the first-ever World Growers Day, noted that the association supported the intent of the FCTC's Article 17 treaty, which was to provide "technical and financial assistance to aid the economic transition of tobacco growers and workers" as a decline in tobacco production consumption resulted in lower demand for our crop.

"The proposals under consideration currently represent a departure from the original goal as they seek to artificially reduce the supply of tobacco without providing growers any viable alternatives to support their families," Bakare noted.

While saying that NITA has sent a letter to Akinwumi Adesina, minister of agriculture and natural resources, he asked government to oppose the elements of the proposals that would be voted on the WHO's FCTC, and therefore called for the minister's unwavering support for tobacco growers and opposition to any plans that would threaten their livelihood.

Also, specifically the growers called on leaders to oppose banning minimum support prices and leaf auctions, restricting production by regulating the seasons when tobacco can be grown, reducing the area allocated for tobacco farming, banning technical support for tobacco farmers and dismantling all bodies connecting growers with governments. Enditem