By Juliet Jacob Ochenje
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has again urged governments across the globe to give support to farmers who grow food crops instead of tobacco so that more children will have food to eat.
The call was made by WHO on its official Twitter handle page, @WHO, on Monday.
It noted that tobacco is cultivated on over 1 million hectares of land in the Western Pacific Region where more than 3 million people are killed by the same crop each year. In addition to the deaths, it said, the environment suffers greatly due to deforestation, contamination of water sources and degradation of soil.
The organisation also advised governments to recognise the additional burden placed on low and middle-income countries to grow tobacco for consumption in high-income countries. It therefore moved that high income countries that import tobacco should incorporate tobacco control and support alternative livelihood to tobacco growing initiatives which align with other commitments to support the health, environment and economies of low- and middle-income countries and least developed countries.
Governments should accelerate the implementation of Articles 17 and 18 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and its guidelines that outline how governments can support farmers by offering technical advice on agriculture to farmers, linking them to necessary supplies and services to support their agricultural production, providing financial support to increase production of healthy food, and divesting away from tobacco and towards alternative crops, WHO said.
It urged advocates and civil society organisations to call out their governments for supporting tobacco production in low- and middle-income and least developed countries, especially those facing food insecurity and contributing to global food crisis, and to expose industry efforts to impede efforts to support tobacco farmers to shift to alternative livelihoods and green wash their tactics.
