Government hunts for tobacco alternative

AS international pressure on the ban on tobacco growing and tobacco use mounts, government has called on farmers to come up with an alternative crop that is capable of ensuring the same economic benefits as tobacco.
Anti-tobacco lobbyists have been pushing for the full implementation of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, an international treaty that seeks to ban the use of tobacco.
“Government would appreciate the contribution of white commercial farmers in finding an alternative crop that would replace tobacco as the golden leaf of Zimbabwe, considering the push to ban tobacco by the World Health Organisation,” Agriculture ninister Perrance Shiri said last week.
In Zimbabwe, tobacco is one of the largest foreign currency earners, with 2018 production surpassing the country’s all time high of 236 million kilogrammes to reach over 238 million kilogrammes.
While the economic benefits of tobacco in countries such as Zimbabwe cannot be denied, some European nations who were the largest consumers of tobacco have already put in place laws that have resulted in the reduction of tobacco use. The aim of the legislation is to cut demand by prohibiting point-of-sale advertising, by requiring retailers to keep tobacco out of sight. The laws are also intended to introduce plain packaging, with graphic health warnings.
The measures have created uncertainty in the tobacco industry.
“With crops such as maize, cotton and wheat fast losing gloss, if tobacco production is banned, the rest would be history if we do not find an alternative crop. More so, thousands of people are employed in the tobacco industry from farm level, through beneficiation, to the by-products level. It then follows that if tobacco production is totally banned, there would be serious negative multiplier effects on our economy,” Shiri said.
Having been labelled humanity’s deadliest preventable scourge by anti-tobacco lobbyists, the tobacco industry has been searching for an alternative crop with zero success.
“It is a long way to come, though, before the total ban on the use of tobacco products comes into effect, but still strategies should be put in place to cushion farmers and the country, at large in the event the ban on tobacco comes to pass.
“Cognisant of the farming dexterity and knowledge base within the white commercial farmers, the government is therefore making a clarion call on you to play a pivotal role in finding an alternative crop to replace tobacco,” he said.
Some African countries have already begun to implement policies that have led to the reduced use of tobacco. Ghana and Madagascar have introduced comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, while South Africa has implemented consecutive tobacco tax increases to deter consumption.
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