Africa to Resist Tobacco Ban

Source from:  The Herald  06/07/2013

The International Tobacco Growers' Association has vowed to fight against the ban of tobacco production as this would negatively affect livelihoods of people living in Africa.

This came out at an ITGA regional meeting held in Harare yesterday.

Stakeholders attending the meeting noted that most African countries relied on tobacco production with millions of people employed in the sector.

Delegates were concerned that malaria, HIV and Aids and malnutrition were affecting people but were not being given similar attention to tobacco.

In a speech read on her behalf by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board director, Mr John Mapondera, TIMB chairperson Mrs Monica Chinamasa said Zimbabwe would continue to defend farmers' rights to grow tobacco.

"To us tobacco production remains legal in the world. Given that it has proved difficult to eradicate the growing of opium and coca, there is no scope to criminalise tobacco production in the near future," she said.

Mrs Chinamasa said the region had more than 1,2 million tobacco farmers producing more than 700 million kilogrammes of the crop valued at US$1,3 billion with US$2,2 billion raised from exports.

"The regional tobacco growing sector employs more than 3,9 million with close to 18 million dependants on growing units," she said.

Mrs Chinamasa said close to two million were employed in the value chain with a combined population of 24 million dependants from seed to smoke stages.

"A total of US$10 billion is generated in the full value chain in the region," she said.

ITGA president Mr Francos van der Merwe said the association realised tobacco was under threat.

He said the regulatory environment was aimed at ultimately banning tobacco production worldwide.

Mr Van de Merwe said the ITGA was aware of the dangers of tobacco but people were smoking out of their own choice.

"We note with great concern that the working group responsible for these proposals is being driven by health officers with little to no real world knowledge of agriculture, tobacco farming, or the challenges faced by farmers and farm workers living in rural areas," said Mr Van de Merwe.

He said farmers could not be expected to shift from tobacco to alternative crops overnight.

"You cannot expect a Malawian farmer to stop producing tobacco and start growing tomatoes when he has to travel more than 25 kilometres to the market.

"It should be noted that tobacco growers are also growing other crops other than tobacco although it is their mainstay," he said.

The ITGA challenged the FCTC to involve tobacco farming communities at every stage of policy development and implementation.

ITGA chief executive Mr Antonio Abrunhosa said it was unfortunate that most African countries were not members of the FCTC.

"African countries have had decisions made on their behalf and it is better to join the FCTC for the voice of farmers to be heard," he said.

Mr Abrunhosa encouraged farmers to adhere to the regulations to maintain their market.

"Tobacco production is on the spotlight and farmers should comply with the regulations since buyers have compliance lists," he said.

The ITGA represents millions of tobacco workers and farming communities in Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.

The association recognises that tobacco has been produced in Africa for generations and acknowledges its contribution to rural employment and economic development. Enditem