Why tobacco crop still thrives

A farm helper collects fresh tobacco leaves from the tobacco farm. In tobacco farming, payment is prompt. Farmers prefer to get something little, than nothing at all as compared to other crop farming. PHOTO | BENSON MOMANYI | NATION MEDIA

What you need to know:

  • Key tobacco growing counties showed farmers were reeling in debt but had no option but to trudge on anticipating better returns from tobacco sales.
  • The tobacco sub-sector is highly organised with ready credit for inputs and other farming activities available.
  • In tobacco farming, payment is prompt. Farmers prefer to get something little than nothing at all.

Two international studies have blamed half-hearted government efforts to curb tobacco trade by failing to provide farmers with affordable credit to switch to alternative crops.

The just released Tobacco industry update and Report on a Smokefree Nairobi also say steps taken to promote farming in food crops have not smashed cartels that control agricultural sub-sectors, robbing farmers of their incomes.

Mr Peter Magati of the International Legislative Institute Affairs (ILA) and Dr Jeffrey Drope from the American Cancer Society said their visits to key tobacco growing counties of Busia, Migori, Bungoma and Meru showed farmers were reeling in debt but had no option but to trudge on anticipating better returns from tobacco sales.

“The tobacco sub-sector is highly organised with ready credit for inputs and other farming activities available from the multinationals who sign contracts with farmers thereby assuring them of a ready market,” said Dr Drope.

In other popular sub-sectors such as tea, pyrethrum, coffee and sugar, farmers continue to complain of poor and delayed payments.

“But in tobacco, payment is prompt. Farmers prefer to get something little than nothing at all. Currently, it is the processors and brokers who make a killing but farmers continue sinking deeper into poverty by the day,” says the report.

Mr Magati observed that farmers have no alternative but to cultivate tobacco despite knowing its adverse effects on their health and on their farms as it is chemical-intensive. The crop is prone to diseases.