Tobacco as an obstacle to development: the case of Malawi

January 21, 2020

Par: communication@cnct.fr

Dernière mise à jour: August 6, 2024

Temps de lecture: 14 minutes

Le tabac comme obstacle au développement : le cas du Malawi

Summary

  • From the illusion of economic profit to dependence on the tobacco industry
  • The impoverishment of farmers
  • Child labor, a humanitarian scandal
  • Multi-generational poverty
  • Destruction of the ecosystem by tobacco cultivation
  • Join the FCTC to regain sovereignty

For decades, the argument of development and economic prosperity has been used by tobacco companies to push countries and local populations to start growing tobacco leaves. Concentrated at 90% in countries with medium and low income levels [1], tobacco production is singled out by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an aggravating factor in poverty [2], incompatible with the Objectives of Sustainable Development [3] (SDGs), defined by the United Nations. Malawi is one of the last countries not to have signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first and only international public health treaty. It is an edifying example for understanding the structural mismatch between the irreconcilable interests of the tobacco industry and the SDGs.

With nearly 130,000 tons produced each year, Malawi is the world's seventh largest producer of tobacco [4]. This predominance of tobacco in the Malawian economy is partly due to a historical reason. Since the 1960s, the intensification of tobacco cultivation has been viewed favorably by the government, seeking to make up for the economic backwardness of a newly independent country [5]. However, while its political situation is stable, it has excellent resources, and it is surrounded by dynamic neighbors, like Tanzania, Malawi is a country devastated by poverty [6].

Due to its deleterious effects on health, public authorities first approach the issue of smoking from a health perspective. However, tobacco is not limited to the issue of public health, and relates to broader issues of economic growth, education, poverty, and the environment, which are particularly important for certain developing countries.

From the illusion of economic profit to dependence on the tobacco industry

The tobacco industry, having understood for more than forty years the economic and commercial potential that Malawi could represent for it, has developed a rhetoric tending to praise and exaggerate its contribution to the development of the country's economy.

At first glance, tobacco seems to occupy an indispensable place in this southern African country, as it contributes so much to the national economy. In terms of tons, Malawi exports twenty times more tobacco than tea, which is the country's second largest export product.

Considered as “green oil”, tobacco appears to be a real financial windfall: it is estimated that it corresponds to 70% of foreign currency earnings, bringing more than 160 million dollars to the national economy each year [7]. In fact, the State's capacity to invest in infrastructure, transport, education or health is closely linked to the revenue generated by the tobacco industry. In other words, far from creating the conditions favorable to sustainable development, tobacco companies have made Malawi the most tobacco-dependent country in the world[8].

Malawi's dependence on tobacco cultivation is pernicious for two reasons [9].

First, this situation tends to make the country extremely vulnerable to fluctuations in tobacco prices. Rising domestic production and declining demand from a growing number of countries have contributed to reducing tobacco revenues in Malawi. The economic consequences for the population are direct: in five years, per capita income has decreased by 30%.

Furthermore, Malawi is characterized by difficult climatic conditions: the country is often confronted with floods and droughts. By devoting a large part of its arable land to tobacco cultivation, the country exposes itself to permanent food insecurity, malnutrition, leading to episodes of serious food shortages. It can be considered that a reconversion of tobacco crops to food agriculture could contribute to ensuring its food sovereignty.

The impoverishment of farmers

Although it is undeniable that tobacco cultivation generates a certain wealth, this only benefits a minimal part of the local population [10]. Production is also scattered: in Malawi, 440,000 people make a living from tobacco cultivation [11].

Apart from large, high-yielding industrial operations, this remains a very unprofitable activity [12]. A large number of small producers, too poor to obtain loans for other agriculture, enter into agreements with tobacco manufacturers. The latter undertake to allocate the necessary funds to the farmer, as well as a given quantity of necessary chemical products (fertilizers, pesticides, etc.). For his part, the small farmer must pay his entire production to manufacturers, according to a price defined in advance. Research on this subject tends to show that very often, producers underestimate the costs linked to production and overestimate the financial returns of this activity.

At the end of the season, the revenue from tobacco sold is regularly insufficient to repay the debts contracted by the operator. In this way, the latter starts again the following year in an even more unfavorable financial situation [13], linked by contract with the tobacco industry, thus preventing it from turning to more profitable agriculture.

The lack of profitability in tobacco cultivation can be explained in two ways: Malawi's two main tobacco merchants, Alliance One International and Universal Corporation, take advantage of a favorable balance of power to put downward pressure on the price of tobacco. sale of tobacco leaves [14] (split-up of production into small units, weak means of negotiation). Then, according to Marty Otañez, researcher and anthropologist at the University of Colorado, this price compression is also encouraged by these two actors through the purchase of contraband tobacco from Mozambique and Zambia, countries bordering Malawi [15 ].

Child labor, a humanitarian scandal

Tobacco cultivation is all the less profitable as it is a particularly strenuous activity. It is estimated that for a single hectare of tobacco cultivation, up to 3000 hours of work per year and per person are necessary. To give just one element of comparison, the same area intended for corn cultivation requires only 265[16]. Thus, although no precise study exists on this subject, it is estimated that around 80,000 people work on tobacco farms in Malawi [17], whose working days can amount to up to at twelve o'clock, in the crushing heat.

Above all, the presence of children in tobacco fields is particularly problematic for health reasons. First, to grow, tobacco leaves require large quantities of chemicals [18], most of the time dumped without the slightest protection, endangering the health of farmers and children: planters are often unaware of the dangers to which they are exposed.

Then, when tobacco leaves are harvested with bare hands, some of the nicotine present in the plant is absorbed by the body through the skin. This nicotine poisoning – a powerful neurotoxicant – causes nausea, vomiting, headaches, malaise, and cardiac arrhythmia. Called green tobacco disease, this phenomenon affects children all the more, given their small size - relative to the high doses of nicotine absorbed. Thus, up to 54 milligrams of nicotine can end up in a child's body in a single day, the equivalent of fifty cigarettes. In such quantities, nicotine is a devastating element in children, in that it heavily affects cognitive development [19].

Multi-generational poverty

Hired on tobacco plantations, the children are removed from any schooling and any prospect of advancement. In a study carried out in 2000, 25% of Malawian farmers had not received any school education, 40% did not know how to read, 40% did not know how to write, and 40% did not know how to count [20]. Thus, tobacco cultivation in Malawi, far from enriching the population, locks part of it into multi-generational cycles of poverty, which are difficult to break. According to the same study, among these 80,000 children, 10% do not go to primary school, and 91% do not go to secondary school (observing only the richest quintile).

If the tobacco industry has multiplied declarations of good intentions on this subject, arguing its desire to put an end to the exploitation of children, the fact remains that this free labor has made it possible to save 10.6 million dollars between 2000 and 2016[21]. Thus, we once again observe the structural incompatibility between the financial interests of the tobacco industry and the sustainable development goals as defined by the United Nations.

Destruction of the ecosystem by tobacco cultivation

By definition, tobacco cultivation, which is extremely chemical-intensive, is in total opposition to the principle of sustainable agriculture. Indeed, the massive use of fertilizers, pesticides, fumigants, herbicides and fungicides results in the poisoning and infertilization of soils, and the pollution of groundwater.

In Malawi, deforestation is a national issue. Every year, 30,000 to 40,000 hectares of forest disappear, leading to disruption of the local ecosystem, the impoverishment of biodiversity and the disruption of biochemical and ecological cycles [22]. According to a study[23] published in 2019 by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), satellite observations confirm that the country lost 14% of its forest area between 2000 and 2016. The empirical data collected show that the rate of deforestation in Malawi, one of the highest on the continent, leads to a reduction in the population's accessibility to drinking water. The destruction of forests is equivalent, in available water, to a decrease in precipitation of 9% since 2000, and 18% since 1990.

Climate change, which is expected to increase erratic rainfall, is putting Malawi at serious risk of water shortages, with 171,000 Malawians still without access to safe drinking water.

However, the tobacco industry has a heavy responsibility for Malawi's deforestation. On the one hand, it is constantly looking for new growing areas. On the other hand, Malawi offers quality wood and a cheap energy resource for drying tobacco [24]. In total, this sector is responsible for 40% of the country's deforestation since 1970 [25].

Faced with this problem, the tobacco industry has been involved in plans to slow deforestation: in 2016, nearly 11,000 trees were distributed by the industry to farmers. However, due to the lack of concordance between deliveries and seasons, lack of coordination with local authorities and monitoring, only 257 trees survived [26].

Join the FCTC to regain sovereignty

According to Marty Otañez [27], the two main tobacco merchants act like a cartel and control public policies in Malawi directly and through third parties. The presence of these companies in decision-making circles has a triple objective: to influence government decisions on questions relating to the commercial development of tobacco, to prevent any decision going against the interests of the industry, and to ensure low prices. tobacco. In other words, the economic and political action of the tobacco industry raises the question of Malawi's sovereignty.

cclat-convention-cadre-lutte-anti-tabac

Given the elements developed above, it is hardly surprising that Malawi is one of the last countries in the world not to have signed the FCTC, the main mission of which is to reduce the consumption and supply of tobacco. The convention [28], as stipulated in its article 17, also undertakes to offer tobacco workers and growers a credible and economically viable alternative to tobacco cultivation, in particular through aid for reconversion to tobacco crops. more profitable, less energy-intensive and less harmful to populations and the environment. Much more than a hindrance, the tobacco industry is a real obstacle to the viability of certain regions of the world, opposing 13 of the 16 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

©Tobacco Free Generation


[1] Maria Zafeiridou, Nicholas S Hopkinson, Nikolaos Voulvoulis, “Cigarette Smoking: An Assessment of Tobacco's Global Environmental Footprint Across Its Entire Supply Chain”, American Chemical Society, July 3, 2018.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.8b01533?rand=r0fqiked

[2] World Health Organization. “Tobacco aggravates countries’ poverty” https://www.who.int/tobacco/communications/events/wntd/2004/tobaccofacts_nations/fr/

[3] United Nations. “17 goals to save the world”. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/fr/objectifs-de-developpement-durable/

[4] Margarete C Kulik, Stella Aguinaga Bialous, Spy Munthali, Wendy Max, “Tobacco growing and the sustainable development goals, Malawi”, Bull World Health Organ, 1er May 2017. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5418823/pdf/BLT.16.175596.pdf

[5] BROWSE Martin. “A century of growth? A history of tobacco products and marketing in Malawi. 1890-2005”. Institute of development, policy and management. October 2011.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a429/d2a86a5512553580f11ead042eb258258aa8.pdf

[6] DOUET Marion, Le Monde, “Why Malawi’s economy is still not a hit”, May 31, 2018. https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2018/05/31/pourquoi-l-economie-du-malawi-ne-fait-toujours-pas-un-tabac_5307548_3212.html

[7] DAVIES Peter. “Malawi: addicted to the leaf”, BMJ Global Health. 2003.

https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/12/1/91.full

[8] Ibid

[9] Ibid

[10] Millington, A. and W. Jepson. Land, “Tropics: Changing Agricultural Landscapes. Springer », June 2008.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267834172_CHAPTER_14_-The_Tobacco_Industry_in_Malawi_A_Globalized_Driver_of_Local_Land_Change

[11] Ibid

[12] Donald Makoka, Jeffrey Drope, Adriana Appau, Ronald Labonte, Qing Li, Fastone Goma, Richard Zulu, Peter Magati, Raphael Lencucha, “Costs, revenues and profits: an economic analysis of smallholder tobacco farmer livelihoods in Malawi”, BMJ Global Health, 2017. https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/26/6/634

[13] Ibid

[14] Ibid

[15] NATOEZ Marty, “Global leaf companies control the tobacco market in Malawi”, Tobacco Control, 2007.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c4b9/5356655c3049a290a439ce44d0f083b67f1a.pdf?_ga=2.20818360.102887750.1567778961-358401650.1567419086

[16] Stop-Tobacco. “Tobacco cultivation: socio-economic and environmental impacts”.

https://www.stop-tabac.ch/fr/la-culture-du-tabac

[17] Ibid

[18] Patricia A. McDaniel, Gina Solomon, Ruth E. Malone, “The Tobacco Industry and Pesticide Regulations: Case Studies from Tobacco Industry Archives,” Environmental Health Perspectives, December 2005.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1314901/pdf/ehp0113-001659.pdf

[19] Ibid

[20] Torres L. “The smoking business. Tobacco workers in Malawi”, Institute for Applied Social Science; 2000.

[21] Ibid

[22] Susan Ngwira, Teiji Watanabe, “An Analysis of the Causes of Deforestation in Malawi: A Case of Mwazisi”, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, February 4, 2019.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331836451_An_Analysis_of_the_Causes_of_Deforestation_in_Malawi_A_Case_of_Mwazisi

[23] Annie Mwayi Mapulanga and Hisahiro Naito, “Effect of deforestation on access to clean drinking water”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, April 23, 2019.

[24] Ibid

[25] ASH, “Big Tobacco’s Big Environmental Impact,” April 6, 2019.

https://ash.org.uk/media-and-news/big-tobaccos-big-environmental-impact/

[26] Ibid

[27] Ibid

[28] WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/42812/9242591017.pdf?sequence=1

| © National Committee Against Smoking |

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