By Martin Owiny.
Forwarded By Leo Odera Omolo
Tobacco farming in Uriri District of Migori county has generated intense heat arising from a significant threat to food security and a catalyst to increased poverty in the local communities growing the crop.
Arising from the campaign mounted against tobacco in the West, multinational tobacco firms are increasingly turning to the developing countries where their activities face little challenge, if any.
In Kenya agricultural production of tobacco has assuming a very significant prominence.Tobacco growing introduced into the country 30 years ago has increased tremendously over the years. Today, it is grown by about 20,000 small scale farmers over on 15,000 hectares of land. Current annual production is estimated at 16,000 tonnes.
The Kenyan Government, as most other developing countries, treasures the tobacco firms because of the revenues generated by the tobacco firms through taxes remitted. In fact between the tobacco firms, the farmers and the government, it is the government that is the greatest beneficiary. For instance, in 1997, BAT Kenya Ltd – one of the leading tobacco firms in the country – had a gross turn-over of over Kshs. 10 billion and remitted over Kshs. 6 billion.
Data from researches indicate that during the same period the farmers in the country are estimated to have earned about Kshs. 900 million. however this is debatable. In Uriri, tobacco farming has turned out to significantly act as a catalyst to degradation of the environment, increase of poverty among the farmers and is a threat to local community food security.
Negative Impacts
Past and current trends in tobacco control haven’t been geared towards campaigning against smoking alone, very little, if any, effort is directed at assessing the impact of tobacco growing on the farmers and the environment.
Many questions remain unanswered in regard to tobacco growing in the country. A lot of biomas is used in processing tobacco leaves. How safe is this practice to the environment? How commensurate are tobacco earnings to the effort put in by farmers? And what are the health implications of tobacco growing on the farmers? These are very important questions that need to be answered. They can only be answered properly after a well-executed study.
Nevertheless, preliminary investigations reveal that tobacco farming is highly labour-intensive-involving almost an entire family, leaving no room for growing of food crops. The effect is perpetual famine in the tobacco growing zones leading to malnutrition especially amongst the children.
Earnings from tobacco are not commensurate with the input by the farmers.Tobacco farmers are not in positions to feed, educate or clothe their children adequately. Child labour and school drop-out are common features in the tobacco growing zones.
During drying of tobacco leaves (curing) a lot of biomas from indigenous flora is used. This leads to deforestation and even soil erosion. Moreover the curing plants (barns) are designed in such a way that the farmers are exposed to tobacco smoke – potentially making them candidates for tobacco-related diseases.
Attempts to persuade farmers to opt out have not been successful. While some farmers understand the dangers inherent in tobacco farming, majority do not understand and are not ready to opt out. In Uriri, an important tobacco growing zone, the farmers do not envisage any alternative income generating activities as lucrative as tobacco farming. After all the tobacco firms provide inputs on easy terms and readily available market for the tobacco leaves and do not pay promptly.
Currently, o major tobacco processing companies in Migiri county have no paid farmers for tobacco delivered in as far as last year. Faced with this income gap farmers are reduced to abject poverty as the best arable land was used to grow the tedious, labour intensive, health threatening crops for which returns have become a tug of war with the companies.
Asking the farmers to seek alternative income activities is in itself the least leaders can do. These companies should be sued for all the direct and in direct effects of these crops to the farmers and their family in the long term.
Urir, generally, like most tobacco growing zones is endowed with fertile land, adequate and consistent rainfall and therefore supports most crops.Sugar cane planting do well in this region, the main drawback is lack of companies to pay on time leading almost the same result.
Another potential strategy of trying to disengage the farmers (most of whom are aged between 30 – 40 years and therefore still energetic) from tobacco farming would be to introduce and support micro technical enterprises e.g. carpentry, masonry, brick-making, welding, shoe repair, etc. In this regard provision of electricity at strategic centers/points and provision of start-up funds would be important towards diverting the attention of the farmers from tobacco.
It is time for the leadership in this areas to start influencing the farmers to drop tobacco farming and come up with strategic and viable alternatives. The world bodies (WHO, UNEP, World Bank, FAO, etc.) working on controlling the epidemic of tobacco in the world should take the tips and come in appropriately.
Obviously the Kenyan Government should not sit contented with receiving the revenues from this dangerous weed and assume that all is well. Through its various ministries concerned (Health, Agriculture, Environment, etc.) the Government should take the initiative and address the tobacco menace in totality.
Tobacco war is a big challenge and calls for a wider partnership. Networking involving local NGOs and even CBOs is very crucial. The extent to which farmer are being exploited alone call for criminal investigations. Why should one not be paid for services and good the have delivered?
As a leader in this tobacco growing regions i am saddened by the development
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About the author.
Martin Owiny is one of the youthful technocrats from Uriri district who is working with an NGO in Nairobi. He is a stakeholder in tobacco farming in Uriri district, and also a local politician one of the potential aspirants for the Uriri parliamentary seat in the yearn 2012.
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Subject: Tobacco companies are making the farmers in uriri much poorer than helping them says D.C
TOBACCO BUYING FIRMS IN MIGORI ARE ACCUSED OF IMPOVERISHING FARMERS BY FAILING TO CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS THE IMPROVEMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE.
Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Awendo Town.
TOBACCO buying firms in Migori County have come under severest criticism for exploiting the growers and failing to pay the farmers their due in time.
Farmers in Uriri district within Migoriu County have voiced concern at what they termed as poor treatment by one of the tobacco buying companies, which accepted delivery of tobacco leaves from the farmers in the months of January and February this year, but so far has yet to effect the payment.
A Uriri politician Martin Owiny has appealed to the government to ensure that Tobacco farmer were getting their money in time to enable them pay other overheads such as school fees for their school going children, buy food during this time of acute food grain shortage.
Owiny said the area, particularly Uriri constituency, people were facing serious food shortage, and it is therefore very much frustrating for one Tobacco buying firms to sit on the farmers money for too long.
Owiny who is one of the dozens of potential aspirants eyeing the Uriri parliamentary seat complaints came in the wake of a similar sentiment expressed by the Uriri DC George Chelagat who accused the Tobacco buying companies of exploiting the farmers in the region.
The DC said,” Instead of the Tobacco buying companies helping farmers overcome poverty; they have turned into a liability.”
The DC made the remarks while addressing a crowd of people who had converged at the lower part of Oyani River to witness the commission of Massa Bridge. The bridge estimate to have been built at a cost of Kshs 8 million will now link up South western Kanyamkago and Rapogi Trading Center in North Kanyamkago Location with Uriri district, Migori County.
The commissioning was conducted by the area MP Cyprian Ojwang’Omolo.
DC Chelagat urged the farmers to boycott tobacco growing and instead switch into growing the much more lucrative sugar cane crops.”Instead of Tobacco helping farmers overcome the abject poverty, these firms have turned to be a liability.”
He said he was aware that his remarks will not be pleasant to the Tobacco buying firms operating in the region, but he was obliged to speak on behalf of the silently suffering farmers.
Local leader have scathingly criticized one of the tobacco companies, which has yet to effect the payment for the delivery made by farmers to its deports in Migori from the month of January and February, saying such firms were only impoverishing the locals instead of improving their standard of living.
May farmers have yet to pay school fees for their children due to lack of money, and yet they have worked hard and delivery several hundreds of kilo of tobacco to the company which has been deliberately delaying their payment
The farmers have pleaded with the MP representing tobacco growing regions tot take up the matter with the Ministry of Agriculture with the view to ensure that the farmers get their dues in time.
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Wow! so that is a TECHNOCRAT talking? we need real facts and figures to enable us contribute constructively. we dont need to rely on far fetched hear say