Tobacco farming leads to increased food insecurity

At least 14 million young people (age 13 to 15) worldwide use tobacco products, according to a survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC says that using tobacco products is unsafe, especially for kids and young adults.

Since 1988, the World Health Organisation (WHO) used World No Tobacco Day to raise awareness of the harmful effects that cigarettes and other tobacco products have on people’s health.

Grow food, not tobacco

In 2023, the WHO and public health champions worldwide are celebrating World No Tobacco Day under the theme: We need food, not tobacco.

This year’s campaign aims to focus on alternative crop production and marketing opportunities for tobacco farming communities. It also aims to grow sustainable, nutritious crops.

The WHO says the day is also aims to expose the tobacco industry’s reported efforts to interfere with attempts to grow crops instead of tobacco. They say this contributes to the global food crisis.

Below are the campaign objectives by the WHO:

Campaign objectives

Mobilize governments to end subsidies on tobacco growing and use of savings for crop substitution programmes that support farmers to switch and improve food security and nutrition.
Raise awareness in tobacco farming communities about the benefits of moving away from tobacco and growing sustainable crops;
Support efforts to combat desertification and environmental degradation by decreasing tobacco farming;
Expose industry efforts to obstruct sustainable livelihoods work.

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The WHO attributes the growing food crisis to ongoing “conflicts and wars, climatic shocks, and the economic and social impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic”. They explain that structural causes like the “choice of crop” also plays a role. They lay out how tobacco growing has contributed to increased food insecurity:

Tobacco leads to food insecurity

3.5 million hectares of land, worldwide, are converted for tobacco growing each year. Growing tobacco contributes to the deforestation of 200 000 hectares a year.
Tobacco growing is resource intensive. It requires heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers, contributing to soil degradation.
Tobacco growing depletes soil fertility. Making the land have a lower capacity for growing other crops, like food.
Tobacco farming is far destructive compared to other agricultural activities. It is more damaging on ecosystems, and tobacco farmlands are more prone to deforestation.