Mawali bidFarewell to the ”Golden Leaf”
The global campaign against smoking has served as a wake up call for Malawi, which has an economy that is heavily dependent on the tobacco industry. The poverty-stricken southern African country is now seeking substitutes for tobacco — as yet, without much success.
Milton Kutengule, an official in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, says Malawi’s draft economic growth strategy proposes a diversified agricultural sector, where tobacco will be replaced by crops like cotton and cassava.
Greater emphasis on mining, tourism and manufacturing is also planned — although this has been met with scepticism from certain business representatives.
Kantilal Desai, spokesperson for the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, says high interest rates discourage business people from borrowing the money needed for investment in the manufacturing sector. At present, the rate tops 45%.
”In that case, you don’t expect diversification to take us anywhere, do you?” he asks.
Kutengule concedes that a greater urgency is required in the bid to make Malawi’s economy more balanced. ”Our initial efforts were more of trial and error… we gambled that tobacco was going to be around longer,” he said.
”But what we have come up with (now) is a … basket of commodities in which we want to create growth by adding value.”
A 2002 study by the Norwegian Agency for Development shows that tobacco accounts for 70% of Malawi’s export revenues — more than in any other country. This makes the tobacco industry Malawi’s second-largest employer after government. Agriculture, which is dominated by tobacco, is responsible for 38% of the country’s gross domestic product.
The anti-smoking lobby has enraged farmers, who argue that both government and donors have failed to show them realistic alternatives for crop production.
”It’s unfortunate that there are some radical groups around who (are) demonising tobacco, when they know that our economic survival is hinged on the same crop,” said Albert Kamulaga, President of the Tobacco Association of Malawi, which promotes the interests of growers and processors.
He says that in the absence of proper alternatives to tobacco, his organisation will continue encouraging farmers to grow more of the leaf.
For their part, lobbyists have criticised the government for delaying ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a binding treaty what was negotiated by the World Health Organisation’s 192 member states.
The final version of the convention, which was reached in May this year, makes provision for several measures to control the ill-effects of tobacco. These include a ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship.
The activists argue that if Malawi ratified the treaty, if could start applying for funds from the European Union and other donors to support economic diversification.
John Kapito, Executive Director of the Consumer Association of Malawi (Cama) — says it is wrong to construe the FCTC as an assault on agriculture, and that anti-smoking lobbyists are simply concerned about the health hazards associated with smoking.
Cama is a member of the Framework Convention Alliance, a group of non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) that helped draft the treaty.
To date, 80 countries have signed the FCTC. According to the alliance, tobacco kills almost five million people each year — a number which it predicts could rise to 10 million by 2020, with 70% of those deaths occurring in developing countries.
Debra Efroymasson of Path Canada, an international NGO monitoring adherence to the FCTC, says Malawi’s tendency to grow tobacco at the expense of food crops is also problematic in other respects.
”Vast hectares of land are dedicated to a crop which is bringing… misery to the economy, as its future remains uncertain. If the same amount of land and resources were dedicated to growing food crops, it could solve hunger here,” she claims. – IPS