ISSUE 092, November 1-30, 2013
Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth
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November 1- 30, 2013
ISSUE 092
A monthly newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of African Woman and Child Feature Service
Tobacco dilemma Education, health suffers as cash crop’s industry reaps big By HENRY OWINO Tobacco farmers in Western Kenya are a very frustrated lot. The per capita cigarette consumption in Kenya is said to be KSh200 per annum but the farmers have little to show for it. However, even though the money is good, tobacco remains a challenge as it has a negative impact on the economy of the individual, community and the country as a whole. According to Dorcas Kiptui, an official with the Ministry of Health, Division of Public Health and Sanitation, the ministry spends three times the amount paid by the industry in taxation to treat diseases that are as a result of tobacco use.
Risks
“The health costs of tobacco growing and consumption far outweigh the economic benefits, if any, derived from the industry,” says Kiptui. She adds: “This is an exploitation of farmers by tobacco industries, increased poverty and malnutrition and ill health in tobacco growing areas and communities.” The average cost of a cigarette in Kenya is KSh5. An individual smoking a pack per day spends KSh3,000 per month. This amount is enough to pay secondary school fees in a dayschool for a term, or National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) contribution at KSh160 per month for 18 people or basic computer packages for students. A visit to tobacco growing areas of Kuria in Migori County reveal a life of poverty where children are forced to work in family farms. This has been necessitated by the labour intensive nature of tobacco production, an action that has seen the children forfeit their education.
Debt
In this way, tobacco farmers are trapped in a never ending cycle of debt to the industry due to unequal trading relationship. It contributes to rural poverty and food insecurity. Tobacco farmers are also exposed to se-
rious health and other socioeconomic risks. In reality, tobacco growing areas are awash with women and children workers who are forced to support the family by working on the tobacco fields. This action contravenes the Children Act which in Section 10 stipulates that every child shall be protected from economic exploitation and any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. The general level of education in the area is low due to high school dropout rates. Tobacco farmers also do not have protective gears resulting in increased health risks. Up to 65 per cent of medical consultations in Kuria District can be attributed to the production of tobacco that also includes home based processing. Rosemary Adhiambo who is in her late 50s and has never smoked in her life. However, she has been exposed to tobacco fumes during curing and storage of tobacco leaf in her house. For about five years now, she has been suffering from tobacco related lung disease. “My problem began as influenza but became persisted for more than one month and I became suspicious. At the hospital, I was diagnosed
A tobacco farm in Western Kenya. Farmers are lamenting over the health risks they are exposing themselves to in the production of the cash crop yet very little financial return. Picture: Henry Owino with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is a lung condition where a person experiences an inability to exhale normally causing difficulty in breathing,” Adhiambo explains. She has tried treating the problem
“The Ministry of Health spends three times the amount paid by the industry in taxation to treat diseases that are as a result of tobacco use.” Dorcas Kiptui Programme Officer at Ministry of Health
for the past three years in vain. So, when the tobacco industry indulges in corporate social responsibility, the question that begs is what is their responsibility on health, environment and socio-economic impact of their primary activity. Tobacco companies are alleged to hide behind corporate social responsibility to enhance acceptability of their products. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers corporate social responsibility by tobacco industry an inherent contradiction. The land that tobacco has been grown for long losses its fertility and cannot yield any food crops to the community. For example, maize and sweet potatoes that were once the
leading food crops are no longer giving bumper harvest to farmers. Cane, the main cash crop in Migori County, is now losing the market due to tactical methods applied by tobacco companies to farmers to lure them to grow it in plenty. In reality, the amount spent in growing tobacco gets back to tobacco firms while the farmers spend the little they earn in treating themselves. Tobacco continues to be treated as a legitimate cash crop due to the income generated from its production and export as well as employment created. It is difficult to establish the exact amount of income generated through taxes to the Government through conflicting information supplied to different Government departments by the tobacco industry.
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