In an opinion piece published at thehill.com, an executive with the Center for Strategic and International Studies has called for action to ensure an orderly exit for farmers from tobacco production.
Dan Runde, a senior vice president and William A. Schreyer Chair in Global Analysis at the Center, a think tank based in Washington, US, said millions of smallholder farmers and their families in Africa and other parts of the developing world were going to lose their livelihoods due to the coming – welcome – fall in global demand for tobacco.
This decrease would come as a result of changing technologies, such as that driving the movement from tobacco to vaping.
Runde said that a number of economically-poor countries were surprisingly dependent on tobacco for jobs and hard currency; so the ‘coming end of tobacco products’ would cause a major social and economic disruption within those societies.
‘One potential solution would be a multi-stakeholder partnership among companies including tobacco companies, NGOs, governments, universities and aid agencies to design something like a “tobacco buyout” for the developing world,’ Runde said.
‘In 2004, the US released the Tobacco Transition Payment Program, also known as the “tobacco buyout” …
‘A similar program for Africa would aid farmers’ transition to different types of agricultural products, decreasing nations’ dependence on tobacco exports and increasing the world’s food supply with incentives for smallholder farmers.’
Runde added that the disruption had already begun.
Preparing for growing cuts
