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[av_heading heading=’ URBAN FARMER | Positive change is possible with agriculture’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY JULIO P. YAP JR.
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Friday, June 23, 2017
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TOBACCO farming is considered a massive global undertaking.
In 2012, tobacco farming involved 124 countries, producing nearly eight million tons of tobacco leaf on some 4.3 million hectares of agricultural land.
During the previous decades, it was learned that global tobacco companies lowered production costs by shifting tobacco leaf production from high-income countries to low- and middle-income countries.
At present, around 90 percent of tobacco farming takes place in low- and middle-income countries.
Of those, Brazil, China and India are the largest growers of tobacco leaf, with China at 3.2 million tons, which is said to be the largest producer.
Behind China’s enormous tobacco production are the millions of farmers whose livelihood dependon agricultural production.
Yunnan province is China’s largest tobacco-producing region.
One of the largest cigarette production facilities in Asia is said to be located in Yuxi municipality.
Hongta district in particular used to be the epicenter of tobacco leaf farming.
In 2008, the Yuxi Bureau of Agriculture and the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California in Los Angeles initiated a three-year tobacco crop substitution project in three sites involving at least 458 farm families.
The project engaged farmers in cooperatives to substitute high-value food crops for tobacco, ultimately increasing farmers’ annual income between 21 percent and 110 percent per acre.
What is especially encouraging is how many locations beyond the three original project sites have now adopted the same model – with equally positive results.
A farmer in Hongta district, who now cultivates spring onions, recounts how his income has increased by four to six times since switching from tobacco.
Representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) in China recently visited Yunnan and spoke to former tobacco leaf farmer Mr. Duan, 41 years old.
It was learned that Mr. Duan abandoned tobacco planting almost a decade ago and has seen his income and business grow exponentially eversince.
He is now a successful farmer with a thriving potted fresh flowers business in China, even exporting overseas.
Mr. Duan said that his quality of life and that of his family of six have improved tremendously because of the increased income.
As a former tobacco farmer, Mr. Duan is now standing proudly amid his blossoming and thriving flower farm.
Farmers and their livelihoods are often used as an excuse as to why China cannot embrace more comprehensive tobacco control.
However, the example of Mr. Duan strongly disputes that argument.
A recent report published jointly by WHO and the United Nations Development Programme highlights the growing health, economic and social costs of tobacco use in China and raises concerns about its impact on the long-term sustainable development of the country.
Given the influence that the tobacco industry holds in China, particularly in Yunnan province, Mr. Duan’s experience gives hope that positive change is possible.
The report says that someday, China will be able to reduce its reliance on the tobacco economy and embrace a cleaner, greener and more sustainable economy for the health of its people. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com/PN)
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