The World Health Organisation (WHO) has admonished the Zambian government to encourage farmers to plant more food crops instead of concentrating on tobacco farming amid looming food insecurity in the country.
The WHO, which gave the advice to the Zambian government in a report on Monday titled, “Grow food, not tobacco,” highlighted “the ills of tobacco growing and the benefits of switching to more sustainable food crops for farmers, communities, economies, the environment, and the world at large.”
The WHO in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) is currently supporting the “Tobacco Free Farms Initiative” aimed at providing help to more than 5000 farmers in Kenya and Zambia to grow sustainable food crops instead of tobacco.
The UN agency also exposed the tobacco industry for trapping farmers in a vicious cycle of debt, propagating tobacco growing by exaggerating its economic benefits and lobbying through farming front groups.
The lrector-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who endorsed the report, said “Tobacco farming causes diseases to the farmers themselves and more than one million child laborers are estimated to be working on tobacco farms, missing their opportunity for an education.”
Ghebreyesus noted that though tobacco was responsible for eight million deaths a year, yet governments across the world spent millions supporting tobacco farms.
“Choosing to grow food instead of tobacco, governments will prioritize health, preserve ecosystems, and strengthen food security for all,” Ghebreyesus said.
“More than 300 million people globally are faced with acute food insecurity with more than 3 million hectares of land across more than 120 countries are being used to grow deadly tobacco, even in countries where people are starving,” he added.
Speaking in like terms, WHO Director of Health Promotion, Ruediger Krech, said “Tobacco is not only a massive threat to food insecurity, but health overall, including the health of tobacco farmers.”
“Farmers are exposed to chemical pesticides, tobacco smoke and as much nicotine as found in 50 cigarettes – leading to illnesses like chronic lung conditions and nicotine poisoning,” Krech said.