Swapping Tobacco Growing Into Crops Farming Vital To Overcome Food Insecurity, Health Risks: Experts

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Nov, 2023) In the wake of prevailing food crisis faced by our country due to damages wreaked by devastating floods of 2022 and impact of Ukraine-Russia war on global food supply chain, its an utmost need of the hour to find ways for increasing food production through swapping of tobacco growing practices into crops farming.

These views were expressed by experts in health, nutrition, agriculture and environment sectors while talking with APP.

Transforming of tobacco farming into crops cultivation is essentially needed to overcome grave problem of food insecurity faced by 36.9 percent population of the country besides public health risks related to consumption of the injurious commodity by millions of people, they emphasized.

“The data of 36.9 percent of population facing food insecurity was compiled by National Nutrition Survey in 2018 while the disastrous floods of 2022 has exacerbated the crisis manifold by plunging additional 2.5 million people into extreme hunger, reaching an all-time high of 8.6 million people,” observed Waheed Ahmad, Patron in chief of Pakistan Fruits and Vegetable Importers and Exporters Association (PFVA).

After experiencing unprecedented destruction due to devastating flash flooding in 2022 we are now grappling with monumental food crisis as millions of acres of agricultural land and crops are damaged, triggering food insecurity due to scarcity of basic food items with their prices skyrocketing, added Waheed Ahmad.

Despite being an agrarian country, we are importing a large verities of food items including basic ones like wheat, pulses, chick peas, garlic, ginger etc and if in case we faced any restriction over arranging shipment of food items, the situation will be very deplorable for the nation, Waheed warns.

Due to difficulties in obtaining LCs (Letter of Credits) from banks because of Dollar shortage, importers are facing a lot of problems in continuing business as a result of which shortage is increasing along with increase in prices, depriving a large number of people to purchase daily use items, he continued.

PFVA chief endorsed the proposal of converting tobacco growing into crop farming as a remedy to counter double threat of prevailing food insecurity and health risks.

He also suggested policy makers to capitalize from the theme of World No Tobacco Day for current year 2023 `Grow Food, Not Tobacco’.

It’s suitable time for government authorities and policy-makers to frame and implement suitable policies, strategies, carry research and enable market conditions for tobacco farmers for switching them to growing food crops to curb the food crisis, Waheed reiterated.

“Tobacco is grown in all four provinces, but it is predominantly grown in KP where it is a major part of the local agrarian economy,” observed Taimoor Khan, General Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Association for Excellence in Agriculture.

In KP tobacco is grown on around 30,000 hectares of land and if half of this farming area is converted into growing of new variety of garlic, NARC G1, the farmers would make a remarkable earning and profits, Taimoor claimed.

Taimoor is pioneer in farming of NARC G1 introduced by National Agricultural Research Council (NARC) in 2018 with the objective of increasing garlic production in the country which in paying billions of rupees on import of the product.

Taimoor said the profit from growing NARC G1 garlic is enormous and from seven months struggle, farmers can earn around Rs. One million from utilization of only one acre of land.

Apart from garlic, there are a lot of other varieties of vegetables and seasonal fruits which can provide much benefits for farming community and also help in meeting the problem of food scarcity in the country.

He also rejected the claim that tobacco farming is contributing in strengthening of country’s economy by generating revenue to the tune of Rs. 120 billion on annual basis.

The economic cost of tobacco consumption by causing different diseases among people is estimated around Rs. 615 billion, three times more than revenue generation in shape of taxes, he added.

“By transforming tobacco farming to food production, we can create ripple effects that promotes food security, improves public health, contributes to the overall well-being of our communities and benefit the environment,” opined Aftab Alam Khan, an international expert on climate change and CEO of Resilient Future International.

According to research findings, cultivation of tobacco requires heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers which causes soil degradation and affects its fertility, thus lowering the used land’s capacity to grow other crops.

While appreciating the concept as timely approach for overcoming food security in the country, Aftab stresses measures for maintaining intact the economic chain attracting farmers toward growing of tobacco.

He said government should work over the policy and announce incentives for farming community in a bid to convince them towards switching from their decades old choice of tobacco growing.

“Tobacco control through different measures is need of the hour for ensuring better health of people,” commented Dr. Taj Muhammad, Communication Officer Pakistan Chest Society.

Quoting a survey conducted by National Health Services in 2018, Dr. Taj said almost 23.9 million adults currently use tobacco in any form in the country. While according to the Pakistan Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) 2015-2016, 45% of the households in Pakistan are tobacco consumers.

Around 163,600 people die each year in the country due to tobacco and almost 31,000 of these deaths are due to exposure to second-hand smoke.

Overall, 10.9 percent of all deaths are caused by tobacco, Dr. Taj laments and said Pakistan Chest Society welcome and support any such initiative aimed at redirecting resources towards alternative crops that can be critical to motivate farming community to prioritize spending on nutritious food rather than harmful tobacco products.