Category: Leaf

  • Declarations made

    Declarations made

    The World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTH) has called upon governments to develop plans by 2021 for phasing out the sale of tobacco products.
    In a statement, the WCTH, which held its 17th conference in Cape Town, South Africa, on March 7-9, also made 10 declarations.
    In a preamble to the declarations, the WCTH said the tobacco epidemic represented one of the biggest public health threats the world had ever faced.
    ‘Tobacco use kills more than seven million people each year, and the vast majority of these deaths take place in low- and middle-income countries.
    ‘The global economic cost of smoking amounts to nearly two trillion dollars and two percent of the worlds GDP in 2016.
    ‘Tobacco use also undermines sustainable development, imposing a huge burden on the global economy, exacerbating poverty, contributing to food insecurity, and harming the environment.
    ‘There is an irreconcilable conflict between the manufacture and marketing of tobacco products and the right to health.
    ‘The tobacco industry is a driver of poverty and linked to child labor, violation of workers’ rights, food insecurity and exploitation of farmers. African governments need to take concrete and urgent action to implement alternative livelihoods that are the rich sources of income free from tobacco.
    ‘Ending the scourge of tobacco and achieving the SDGs [sustainable development goals] will require urgent action.
    ‘Therefore the 17th World Conference on Tobacco or Health affirms the following:

    1. We call on governments to unite with civil society to stop tobacco industry interference and accelerate implementation of the WHO FCTC [World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control] using a whole-of-government approach.
    2. We urge governments, scientists, research entities, foundations, and civil-society organizations to reject or cease engagement with the Philip Morris International-funded Foundation for a Smokefree World and other initiatives of the tobacco industry
    3. We adopt the Cape Town Declaration on Human Rights and a Tobacco-free World (https://unfairtobacco.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Cape-Town-Declaration_Human-Rights_Tobacco-free-World-1.pdf).
    4. We call on African governments to operationalize the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development that recommends increasing tobacco taxes as an untapped, sustainable domestic resource mobilization strategy, for accelerating the implementation of the WHO FCTC in Africa.
    5. We call on Parties to actively engage in the development of the WHO FCTC Medium Term Strategic Framework and Plan and to endorse them at the forthcoming eighth session of the Conference of the Parties of the WHO FCTC.
    6. We support the concept of a tobacco-free generation and commit to empowering youth involvement and advocacy as a means to achieving a tobacco-free world (http://wctoh.org/news/youth-pre-conference-delegates-unite-to-build-a-tobacco-free-generation/).
    7. We call on Finance Ministers to actively support the WCTOH 2018 Declarations by prioritizing sustainable funding for tobacco control and ceasing public and private investment in the tobacco industry.
    8. We call on governments to extend as a priority, fiscal policies to continually decrease the affordability and accessibility of tobacco products
    9. We call on the Parties to the WHO FCTC to integrate gender-based data-collection and reporting into Party reports to the Conference of the Parties [COP] on their implementation of the WHO FCTC by COP9.
    10. We call upon the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to align with the decision of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and end its collaboration with the tobacco industry immediately.’
  • Upbeat in Andhra Pradesh

    Upbeat in Andhra Pradesh

    Flue-cured tobacco growers in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh were said to have been paid ‘fairly good’ prices during the first two days of this season’s auction sales, which opened on March 8 in the traditional growing areas of the Southern Light Soil region.
    According to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter, growers were paid an average of Rs160 per kg during the early sales.
    But prices are expected to increase once sales come to an end in the other flue-cured-tobacco state, Karnataka, towards the end of this month or early next month.
    The auctions began on an optimistic note for growers in part because international companies are being allowed this season to participate directly in the sales, after registering as exporters or dealers.
    Growers are looking for ‘remunerative’ prices of Rs176 per kg for bright grades and a minimum of Rs100 per kg for low-grade leaf.
    The optimism has been caused also by the quality of the crop, which is said to comprise a majority of bright grades.
    The Tobacco Board of India set the authorized crop size for Andhra’s 2017-18 season at 136 million kg.
    Sales in the Southern Black Soil region of Andhra are due to start on March 19.
    Meanwhile, in Karnataka, the average price stood at Rs150 per kg with more than 88 million kg sold against an authorized crop of 99 million kg.
    Following 141 days of auctions, growers had sold 18.42 million kg of bright-grade leaf for an average of Rs161.97 per kg, 41.26 million kg of medium-grade tobacco for an average of Rs148.29 per kg, and 28.58 million kg of low-grade leaf for an average of Rs115.02 per kg.

  • Eating the golden goose

    Eating the golden goose

    Zimbabwe’s flue-cured-tobacco growers always complain about getting a raw deal despite their being the goose that lays the golden egg of much-needed foreign currency, according to a story by Fidelity Mhlanga for the Zimbabwe Standard.
    And their concerns have been voiced yet again ahead of the opening of the 2018 tobacco marketing season on March 21.
    But whether their voices will be heard is another matter. Mhlanga reported that each marketing season growers were left stranded as the authorities seemed not to address their plight.
    The Federation for Farmers’ Union chairman Wonder Chabikwa reportedly said there was a need to handle carefully tobacco farmers’ welfare because they facilitated the inflow of forex into the country.
    Mhlanga reported that last season the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) had announced that growers would be paid [in cash] $1,000 initially, while the rest of their earnings would be deposited in bank accounts.
    That never happened, leaving farmers at the mercy of ‘cash barons’ and unscrupulous traders who took advantage of the chaos by buying tobacco in cash at lower prices than those prevailing on the auction floors.
    Recently, RBZ governor John Mangudya said that, upon presentation of sales statements, growers would be paid $300 per day through banks stationed at auction floors. He said the balance would be transferred into growers’ bank accounts.
    The Zimbabwe Tobacco Association CEO Rodney Ambrose said small-scale farmers should be prioritised as they had not embraced plastic money.
    “Therefore, farmers should once again be prioritised in their requirements for cash-based costs and foreign currency allocation for critical inputs and capital expenditure, the latter of which the RBZ has pledged to do this season.”
    Economist Clemence Machadu said the rural areas where most tobacco was grown were deprived of banking infrastructure, hence the need for cash.
    And Machadu said it was essential for authorities to deal decisively with bogus buyers to bring sanity to the tobacco selling procedure.
    Meanwhile, the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) said it was geared to stem the problem of bogus buyers this season. It had been conducting training and awareness programs for farmers; it had put in place stringent crowd control measures at the selling points and was it working closely with the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the President’s Office.

  • Rangpur plantings down

    Rangpur plantings down

    The amount of land planted to tobacco in the Rangpur district of Bangladesh is this season down by about 13 percent on that of the previous season, according to a story in The Daily Star. And it is down by about 69 percent on that of the 2012-13 season, when a modern record was set.
    The Star report said that the fall in plantings had come about as farmers had realized the bad impact that tobacco was having on their health and that of consumers.
    The senior agriculture officer at the Rangpur Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Sajidur Rahman, was reported to have said that about 1,388 ha of land had been planted to tobacco in Rangpur during the 2017-18 cropping season, down from 1,595 ha in 2016-17.
    About 4,500 ha had been planted to tobacco in Rangpur during the 2012-13 season, which was the highest ever in the district in recent years.
    But, after that, plantings had started to drop. During the 2013-14 season, 2,522 ha was planted to tobacco, while by 2014-15, plantings had fallen to 2,130 ha.

  • Illegal tobacco growing

    Illegal tobacco growing

    Police have uncovered five ha of illicit tobacco being grown in the Australian state of Victoria, according to a story in the Ballarat Courier.
    The tobacco was said to have been found at Dunnstown, which is close-to and east of Ballarat.
    Police officers said on Monday that an investigation into the illegal tobacco trade had led to the arrest of two men and the seizure of guns, ammunition and tobacco in Dunnstown.
    Ballarat detectives were said to have joined forces with the Australian Taxation Office before executing a number of search warrants on Thursday.
    The search was said to have uncovered five ha of tobacco plants, 4.2 tonnes of tobacco leaves, equipment used to process tobacco, and three unregistered guns and ammunition.
    A 66-year-old man and 61-year-old man, both from Dunnstown, were arrested at the scene.
    They have been assisting police with their inquiries but no charges had been laid as of Monday afternoon.

  • Sales season scheduled

    Sales season scheduled

    Auction sales of Zimbabwe’s 2017-2018 flue-cured-tobacco crop are set to begin on March 21, according to a story in The Chronicle.
    Bookings are due to start on March 7 and crop deliveries will be received from March 15.
    The three tobacco auction floors that operated last year have been licensed again: Tobacco Sales Floor, Boka Tobacco Auction Floor, and Premier Tobacco Auction Floor.
    Meanwhile, contract sales are scheduled to start on March 22.

  • Time to move on

    Time to move on

    The Foundation for a Smoke Free World (FSFW) has told tobacco growers in Malawi that there is a need to shift to other crops that could take over as the country’s main foreign exchange earners, according to a story in The Nyasa Times.
    The vice president of the FSFW responsible for agriculture and livelihoods, Jim Lutzweiler, was said to have made this remark while speaking on Wednesday on the side-lines of a consultative meeting on alternative crops that was held in Lilongwe.
    Lutzweiler said tobacco was becoming less acceptable on the world market, which meant that alternatives ought to be identified before it was too late for economies that were dependent on tobacco.
    “In the event that tobacco has completely phased out as a reliable cash crop in Malawi, we would like to mobilize interest of people and many other stakeholders to think of an alternative cash crop with a formal market, to help farmers be able to move on economically,” he said.
    Malawi’s farmers, he added, could replace tobacco with soya beans, “provided everyone understands the importance of this idea well ahead of time as tobacco has globally been proved a health risk for people.”
    Tobacco is thought to contribute about 50 percent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings.
    The FSFW, which was set up last year with initial funding of $1 billion over 12 years from Philip Morris International, is legally independent of PMI. Two of its main aims are to provide funding for research into accelerating the ending of tobacco smoking, and to prepare for the consequences of any success in reducing smoking that will be felt by smallholder tobacco farmers.
    Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development’s director of extension services, Albert Changaya, said the issue of an alternative crop to tobacco was not new; so it would be necessary to look at what previous advocates had done and to learn from their successes and failures.
    And the Parliamentary Agriculture Committee’s deputy chairperson, James Munthali, said diversifying from tobacco had to be done in a realistic way.
    He said parliament had enacted the Warehouse Receipt Law which could help in identifying more valuable crops to be sold through structured markets such as the AHL Commodities Exchange and Agriculture Commodities for Africa.
    “In my understanding, we are not going to replace tobacco overnight, but we need to gradually replace it,” he said.
    “The volumes we used to sell in the past have dropped, which is a wake-up call.”
    Speaking at the meeting on behalf of the Tobacco Control Commission, Patricia Kasamale said her organization would keep on watching the efforts being taken. “We support all initiatives being undertaken by FSFW to find crops that will complement tobacco,” Kasamale said.
    There was a word of warning, however, from Hugh Saunders, MD of Alliance One, about the conflicting information being sent to farmers about switching from tobacco to other crops, given that no crop had yet been identified as a replacement for tobacco.
    “The solution is to have an alternative crop,” he said. “Tobacco is a high value crop and there are factors that need to be taken into consideration when pondering on this issue.”

  • Prices ‘reasonably good’

    Prices ‘reasonably good’

    Flue-cured tobacco growers in the Indian state of Karnataka are being paid ‘reasonably good’ prices during the ongoing 2017 selling season, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter.
    After 132 days of sales, growers were said to have sold 80.54 million kg against an authorized crop of 99 million kg.
    Bright grades were said to have attracted an average price of about Rs162 per kg, while medium grades had earned an average of about Rs148 per kg and low grades an average of about Rs115 per kg.
    Overall, the tobacco sold so far had gone for an average of Rs140 per kg, up from Rs134 per kg during the previous auctions.
    Meanwhile, flue-cured tobacco auctions in Andhra Pradesh are due to start on March 8.
    The Tobacco Board of India authorized a crop size of 136 million kg for the current season, but, according to official estimates, unhelpful weather means that it is likely to come in at about 120 million kg.
    Andhra growers, faced with increased costs, are said to be demanding a price of at least Rs140 per kg.

  • Farming semantics

    Farming semantics

    The Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) is luring local farmers into cultivating tobacco by providing inputs and loan facilities, and by functioning as a direct buyer of their produce, according to a story in The Island, citing new research.
    The research, which looked at tobacco cultivation in Sri Lanka and its social impact, was conducted by the Presidential Task Force on Drug Prevention (PTFDP) and the Center for Combating Tobacco (CCT) at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo.
    The research results were announced on Tuesday by the directors of the PTFDP and CCT Dr. Samantha Kithalawaarachchi and Dr. Mahesh Rajasuriya.
    The report is said to claim that the CTC tries to attract small-scale farmers through social welfare projects, while the company’s close relationships with politicians in the government are being exploited to sustain the tobacco business.
    The report says that such interventions by the tobacco company have to be stopped if the government’s goal of ending tobacco cultivation by 2020 is to be achieved.
    Nevertheless, the CTC’s alleged efforts seem to have been in vain, or even counterproductive. According to the report, there has been a significant decrease in the number of tobacco farmers in Sri Lanka owing to the announcement of an ‘imminent tobacco ban by the government’.
    The researchers take this decrease to mean that nearly all tobacco farmers, kiln owners and labourers have vocational options. And because of this, the research team has called for stopping the use of the term ‘tobacco farmers’.

  • Flue-cured crop recovers

    Flue-cured crop recovers

    The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union (ZCFU) says that recent rain means that flue-cured tobacco deliveries are likely to hit Zimbabwe’s target of 200 million kg this season, according to a story in The Chronicle.
    This is something of a turnaround.
    Last week, it was reported in The Herald that unhelpful weather had meant that flue-cured tobacco plantings were down by more than five percent this season.
    The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) was reported to have said that the 5.5 percent drop in tobacco hectarage had been caused by poor rainfall distribution. In its latest crop assessment report compiled with Agritex after an assessment undertaken from January 22 to February 2, the TIMB said 104,397 ha were put under tobacco this season compared to 110,518 ha last season.
    But in an interview on Monday, ZCFU president Wonder Chabikwa said his organization was optimistic that the targeted 200 million kg would be achieved this selling season, which is due to begin about the middle of next month.
    “We are hopeful that we will achieve our projection of 200 million kg of tobacco this selling season because of the rains that the country has received after the dry spell we experienced along the way in the 2017/18 summer cropping season,” Chabikwa was quoted as saying. “Due to the dry spell, we had lost hope that the targeted yields would be achieved.”
    Last year, tobacco growers produced 189 million kg of flue-cured.
    Chabikwa said irrigated tobacco was now being reaped while the rain-fed crop was at various stages of growth, with some plants developing new leaves as a result of the prevailing wet spell.