FCTC proposals threaten to increase poverty among African leaf producers

The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) has warned against full implementation of the world Health Organization’s recommendations on tobacco control, according to a story in the Nairobi Star.

The WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is aimed, directly or indirectly, at reducing tobacco growing, and KAM’s CEO, Betty Maina, said that such proposals should be given an airing because tobacco production in Kenya was an important economic activity.

Speaking at a recent forum on tobacco production, Maina said the tobacco industry had played a key role in job creation and that any plan aimed at controlling its sale and distribution should be restrained, and administered according to individual country laws.

The FCTC has been pushing for a gradual migration of farmers out of tobacco and KAM fears that such a move will increase the poverty levels in Kenya and other African countries, including Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda and Tanzania.