TOBACCO farmers are better off planting rice or crops other than tobacco, according to Health Justice, a not-for-profit group that has been waging war against cigarette smoking in the Philippines.
According to the group, tobacco farming is chemically intensive as the tobacco crop requires heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides. Tobacco farmers are also likely to suffer from pesticide poisoning, lung damage and “green tobacco sickness,” a form of nicotine poisoning that causes nausea, vomiting and dizziness.
“Tobacco farming depletes the soil of nutrients and the pesticides and fertilizers used to grow tobacco find their way to our water sources. The curing of tobacco leaves with wood fuel leads to massive deforestation,” Ipat Luna of HealthJustice said.
HealthJustice said cigarette butts also constitute the No. 1 discard in coastal cleanups and street garbage. Cigarette butts end up in rivers and lakes, thereby contributing to the pollution of the country’s water bodies, the group added.
The chemicals and additives from these leach into the ground and pollute the soil and plants, Luna said.
“These are problems we can avoid by simply empowering farmers to plant crops other than tobacco,” Luna, a lawyer, said.
According to the group, the planting of this “deadly” crop with no positive effects should never get government support.
“This crop just flies in the face of the Department of Agriculture’s push for organic agriculture and it is just right that the agriculture department gives support so that food can be planted instead of tobacco,” Luna added.
The group lauded the National Tobacco Administration for allotting P200 million to tobacco farmers who will plant rice during the current wet season.
“In addition to the declared objective of rice self-sufficiency by 2013, this move is actually a health measure,” said Irene Reyes, another member of HealthJustice.
According to Reyes, the government should roll out more projects that will help tobacco farmers shift to economically viable crops in accordance with the country’s obligation under Articles 17 and 18 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
The group believes that there is life after tobacco and the government can help farmers escape from the snares of tobacco agriculture.
