World No Tobacco Day: Tobacco farming adding to global food crisis, says WHO

Subject :Geography

Section: Economic geography

Context:

Tobacco farming is taking up millions of acres of fertile land that can help feed these people, as per a WHO report.

Details:

World tobacco day: 31 May
Tobacco growing harms the health of people, farmers and even the planet’s health.
Tobacco is grown in over 124 countries, taking up valuable farming land that can address nutrition challenges and help feed families instead.
The WHO report further pointed out the serious health impacts on tobacco farmers due to the heavy use of pesticides and high absorption of nicotine through the skin due to its farming.
Growing tobacco is also not profitable for many farmers.

Tobacco crop:

Tobacco cultivation in India was introduced by the Portuguese in 1605.
It is a drought-tolerant, hardy and short-duration crop which can be grown on soils where other crops cannot be cultivated profitably.
The cultivation of tobacco usually takes place annually.
The tobacco is germinated in cold frames or hotbeds and then transplanted to the field until it matures.
It is grown in warm climates with rich, well-drained soil.
For tobacco 50-100cm annual rainfall and 15-20^o C temperature during the growth period is ideal.
Tobacco cannot stand if rainfall is more than 100cm. After harvesting to dry the leaves it requires bright sunshine & dry weather but not less than containing 8% moisture.
About 4.2 million hectares of tobacco were under cultivation worldwide in 2000, yielding over seven million tonnes of tobacco.

Varieties of tobacco crop:

Ninety-three varieties including Flue Cured Virginia (FCV) (29), Burley (3), Natu (5), Lanka (2), Chewing (17), Bidi (15), Cheroot (3), Cigar (4), Hookah & chewing (15) types have been released for the farming community. Breeding efforts are made for developing varieties with high solanesol, high flavour, low nicotine etc. CMS hybrids having higher levels of flavour compounds have also been developed.
80-85% of India’s tobacco exports continue to be FCV alone.

Top products:

The top producers of tobacco are China (39.6%), India (8.3%), Brazil (7.0%) and the United States (4.6%).
In India, Andhra Pradesh is the largest producer of tobacco. Gujrat, Karnataka, Bihar and Odisha are other tobacco-producing states.
India has seven tobacco research centres that are located in: Jeelugumilli, A.P., Kandukuru, A.P., Guntur, A.P., Kalavacherla, A.P., Hunsur, Karnataka,Vedasandur, Tamil Nadu,Dinhata, West Bengal; and Rajahmundry houses the core research institute.
The government has set up Tobacco Board Guntur which works to increase the production, sale and exports of Indian tobacco. Guntur is also well known for its tobacco plantations.
India is one of the leading exporters of tobacco and occupies second place after Brazil. The country accounts for 6% by volume and 0.7% by value of the world tobacco trade.

Risks faced by tobacco farmers:

Farmers are trapped in a vicious cycle of debt as a result of unfair contractual agreements with the industry.
Green tobacco sickness, a form of occupational poisoning which is caused by nicotine absorbed through the skin from the handling of wet tobacco leaves,
Exposure to heavy use of pesticides and exposure to tobacco dust.
Child labour and gender inequality.
Environment pollution.

Smoke from the burning of cigarettes:

Smoke from a burning cigarette is a concentrated aerosol of liquid particles suspended in an atmosphere consisting mainly of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
Researchers have also described cigarette smoke as a “lightly charged, highly concentrated matrix of submicron particles contained in a gas with each particle being a multi-compositional collection of compounds arising from distillation, pyrolysis, and combustion of tobacco”
Tobacco smoke is a complex and dynamic chemical mixture.
It contains pollutants such as Carbon monoxide and Benzene.
Researchers have analyzed whole smoke or used chemical and physical means to separately examine the gas and particulate portions of tobacco smoke.

WHO campaign to end tobacco production:

2023 marks 20 years of member states unanimously adopting the first public health treaty negotiated under the WHO Constitution — the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, also called WHO-FCTC.
This treaty is the first international agreement to reduce tobacco consumption and its devastating health effects.
The WHO campaign encouraged governments to end tobacco growing subsidies and use the savings to support farmers to switch to more sustainable crops that improve food security and nutrition.
It also aimed to raise awareness about moving away from growing tobacco and growing sustainable crops instead.