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Although there are various initiatives taken to discourage the use of tobacco at a global scale, including the declaration of “No Tobacco Day” on 31st May, its use and cultivation have not been curbed to the desired extent.
Tobacco production in Africa is on the upswing, causing concerns to authorities and international bodies that are against tobacco consumption due to its deleterious effect on health. Although there are various initiatives taken to discourage the use of tobacco at a global scale, including the declaration of “No Tobacco Day” on 31st May, its use and cultivation have not been curbed to the desired extent. It is all the more significant as tobacco cultivation is done on fields that are used for growing food crops.
Tobacco farming is booming in some African countries. Big producers include Zimbabwe and Malawi. The former is Africa’s largest producer of tobacco. There are more than 350 million people having hunger and food insecurity issues. Many of the countries where these issues are a concern are also big tobacco-growing economies. Tobacco production has gone up by nearly 20%. While the acreage under tobacco cultivation is vaulting, the number of people facing acute food insecurity rose to 258 million in 58 countries in 2022.
Currently, China funds the bulk of tobacco production and buys the lion’s share of Zimbabwe’s tobacco. Once harvested, tobacco leaves are dried and prepared and will go on to make products such as cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, and pipe tobacco.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/malawis-tobacco-production-increases-but-sales-dip/
https://trendsnafrica.com/zimbabwe-records-highest-increase-in-tobacco-production/
The largest tobacco growers continue to be China, India, and Brazil. But tobacco cultivation has increased manifold in Africa in the last couple of years. The big ones are Malawi, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Zambia, and to some extent Uganda, Kenya, and other eastern African countries. Some of the West African countries like Cote d’Ivoire are also big growers of tobacco. Countries like Mozambique, Angola, and South Africa also grow tobacco. According to WHO, nearly 124 countries in the world grow some form of tobacco. If such vast tracts of fertile land were converted for growing food grains or other horticultural crops, considerable breakthroughs could have been achieved in feeding millions of hungry people in the world.
