Anti-smoking lobyist pledge support to farmers

The Agricultural Transformation Initiative, under the Foundation for Smoke-Free World has pledged support to all farmers in Malawi willing to diversify their economic livelihood away from tobacco with an aim of creating a smoking free generation.

President of the Foundation, Derek Yach was speaking on Monday in Mchinji where he presented a grant amount to K18 million to Chiosya Dairy Farmers Group in the area of Traditional Authority Simphasi, to encourage farmers concentrate more on dairy farming and less on tobacco.

Yach said the grant presented on Monday is just half of the total support to Chiosya (K36 million), which is meant to encourage farmers to think beyond tobacco which has its global demand decline.

Yach, a former World Health Organisation executive who was heavily involved with the development of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, categorically stated they have decided to invest in Malawi because the country is tobacco dependent – a situation which affected creation of a free-smoking generation.

“The overall goal of the foundation is to try and reduce the number of smokers worldwide. While we do this, we have to support the farmers who we know will likely suffer as the demand of tobacco goes down in the long term. And the first place we have decided to do this work is here in Malawi. And the reason is; Malawi is most dependent for foreign exchange on tobacco and there is also high demand from farmers for better sources of livelihood and income” he explained.

In as much as his message may not be liked by those accustomed to think that tobacco is Malawi’s only gold, Yach did not mince words but put it straight that tobacco will take Malawi nowhere hence the need to diversify now than later.

As if deliberately designed to please the donor, more farmers painted a gloomy picture of their tobacco story describing it as ‘exploitative and without gain’. Some of them openly boasted how their lives have changed after switching to dairy farming.  

Said Robert Phiri a member of Chiosya Dairy Group “I have been a tobacco farmer since 1990’s without anything to show. I am currently on contract farming and I earn up to K4 million kwacha a year. Take away all expenses I am left with about K1 million. But with dairy farming the story is different. The inputs are cheaper compared to tobacco which is labour intensive. I produce 20 litres of milk per cow every day which is sold at K195 per litre. That gives me about K1.4 million a year – all things being equal”. He said while looking at his well prepared notes of his financial records.

Phiri said the grant from ATI is a boost to their group which has 205 members. Such positive sentiments from communities gives ATI some optimism on the possibility of achieving a shift from tobacco to other sources.

Considering the sensitivity which surround the tobacco story in Malawi, ATI does not just need community consent but political will as well given the vested interest in the leaf.

ATI Country (Malawi) Director Candida Nakhumwa realizes how slippery the terrain is in Malawi but she refuses to give pessimism a chance saying with time people will naturally move away from tobacco having seen gains in other sources of income.

“There are mixed reactions but we are positive with the approach that we have taken. We have been discussing with Ministry of Agriculture and other relevant ministries such as Industry and Trade because they deal with farmers on daily basis. So even people in government are aware of challenges that tobacco is facing and I am happy to say that the government is ready to support diversification efforts. So far our plan is aligned to government strategies” said Nakhumwa.

The Agricultural Transformation Initiative – ATI has organised a two –day summit to take place at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) between December 4 -5 (Tuesday and Wednesay) this week, which will bring at one place local and international experts to deliberate on what can work to diversify Malawi’s agriculture sector.

With tobacco accounting for over 60% of the country’s total annual earnings and 13% of the economy as measured by the gross domestic product, government is usually not forth-coming with any discussion which discredits the ‘green gold’. It will be interesting to hear the capital hill version on this new initiative which is generally anti-smoking but with an incentive to the farmer.