The World Health Organization has linked rising tobacco cultivation to the food and nutrition shortages plaguing many regions of Africa.
In honor of World’s No Tobacco Day, WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, claimed that tobacco farming was taking up more area than it should, destroying the ecosystem. “Tobacco can no longer be categorized simply as a health threat – it is a threat to human development as a whole.
“Every year the tobacco industry costs the world more than 8 million human lives, 600 million trees, 200 000 hectares of land, 22 billion tonnes of water, and 84 million tonnes of CO2.”
Moeti claimed that the growing tobacco farming in the African continent poses a serious threat to our food and nutrition security and that due to a legal climate that is more supportive of the tobacco industry and rising tobacco demand, tobacco farming has recently moved to Africa.
“Globally, there are about 828 million people who are hungry. 278 million of them (20%) reside in Africa. In addition, moderate to severe food insecurity affects 57.9% of the population in Africa. Food instability and poor nutrition are made worse by tobacco manufacturing and growing.
She noted that tobacco farming pollutes the environment, contaminates water sources, damages ecosystems, and depletes soil fertility. “The harm done to sustainable food systems production in low and middle-income countries may outweigh any gains to be made from tobacco as a cash crop.”
According to WHO: “Shifting from tobacco to nutritious food crops has the potential to feed millions of families and improve the livelihoods of farming communities globally.”
According to Moeti, the World Health Organization has been collaborating with its member countries and international partners to help farmers switch from cultivating tobacco to alternate crops.
