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Seeds of change in Kenya as farmers lead way on tobacco-free farms |


The initiative, supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), with the cooperation of the Kenyan authorities, is helping to “find the needle” in ending the global tobacco epidemic, said WHO.

Easy solution

Kenya is the first country to participate in a training program for tobacco farmers so that they can switch to easier-to-harvest alternatives, such as beans.

To date, growers have sold 135 tons of beans to the World Food Program (WFP), giving them a significantly higher income, than they earn from grow tobacco.

Growing beans has the added advantage that they contain a lot of iron, which helps fight many health and development problems in children and pregnant women.

“The project has seen improved farmer health, increased schooling of children formerly working on farms, and better crops for an alternative tobacco environment,” said WHO.

Nicotine addiction

The United Nations health agency points out that tobacco cultivation accounts for less than 1% of the Kenyan economy.

But farmers and their families suffer serious health risks from nicotine absorbed through the skin when handling wet tobacco leaves, exposure to heavy use of pesticides and tobacco dust.

“Currently, my children have time to do their homework, but in the process of cultivating tobacco, they don’t,” said Alice Achieng Obare, a longtime tobacco grower and one of hundreds of farmers. in Migori County in southwestern Kenya, says.

Toxic Harvest

“I also want to tell the tobacco growers that they should go to the doctor for a chest X-ray, my chest is full of smoke,” she said. “I can’t carry heavy things and I can’t walk long distances.”

According to WHO, nicotine contained in tobacco is highly addictive and tobacco use is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, more than 20 different types or subtypes of cancer and many conditions. other debilitating health conditions.

Every year, more than eight million people die from tobacco use. Most tobacco-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, which are often targets of tobacco industry intervention and intensive marketing.

Tobacco cultivation is also linked to increased gender inequality, deforestation, land degradation and pollution of water supplies.

Dr Juliet Nabyonga, WHO Acting Representative to Kenya, said: “Tobacco farmers must receive the support they need to switch to alternative crops that have the potential to improve their health and livelihoods and reduce tobacco supply”. “It is projects like these that will be the guiding light in the fight against the global tobacco epidemic.”

Better, all round

Another partner in the project, Farm To Market Alliance (FtMA), explains that the sustainable food model offers smallholder farmers the opportunity for better income and food security. “WFP provided a ready market for high-iron legumes, promoting good agricultural practices, nutritional sensitivity, and training against post-harvest loss. The FtMA’s demand aggregation model has helped farmers benefit from economies of scale in input and output sales,” said Simon Cammelbeeck, FtMA CEO.

More than 6,000 Kenyans die from tobacco-related diseases each year; 79 men and 37 women die every week.


A tobacco plant in Kenya.

© WHO

A tobacco plant in Kenya.

An estimated 220,000 children and 2.7 million adults use tobacco every day in the country. It kills more than eight million people worldwide each year, and 1.2 million of these deaths are caused by exposure to secondhand smoke.

WHO has warned that nearly one in two children breathe air polluted by secondhand smoke and 65,000 children die each year from illnesses related to secondhand smoke. Smoking while pregnant can lead to a number of health conditions that last the baby’s life.

Heated debate

WHO warns anyone considering trying or switching to heated tobacco products should be aware that they can expose users to “toxic emissions, many carcinogens and potentially harmful chemicals”. unhealthy”.

And e-cigarettes that do not contain tobacco or nicotine are “harmful to health and certainly not safe”, the UN agency stressed, noting that it is too early to give a clear answer on the impact. Long-term use of tobacco products is heated and e – tobacco use.



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