Despite tobacco control efforts to phase out tobacco consumption around the world, a thorny issue remains - that there are many countries whose economy is fundamentally dependent on tobacco production. Amongst one of the largest producers of tobacco globally is Malawi, where tobacco makes up 60% of its exports. Sahan Lungu joins us to explore Malawi's complex relationship with tobacco in the first episode of our two part Malawi Special.
Chapters:
0:00 - Coming up on today's programme 0:43 - Malawi's tobacco control dilemma 3:45 - Is a new approach to tobacco policy needed in Malawi? 5:40 - Malawi's economic dependence on tobaccoTranscription:
00:04
Joanna Junak: Hello and welcome! I'm Joanna Junak and this is GFN News on GFN.TV. Tobacco farming plays a key role in Malawi's economy. Yet the country also faces serious health issues resulting from smoking. This creates a conflict between socio-economic needs and the necessity of protecting public health. Joining us today to discuss the interrelation between tobacco farming and tobacco control is Sahan Lungu, a THR practitioner from Malawi and co-author of a paper exploring the socio-economic and health dynamics of tobacco in Malawi. This is part one of our interview with Sahan. Hello, Sahan. Thank you for joining us today. What are the main challenges associated with balancing tobacco farming and tobacco control in Malawi?
01:18
Sahan Lungu: So in Malawi, tobacco growing which is an emphasis on tobacco growing, is a significant contributor to Malawi's economy. It accounts to over 60% of the national export of export earnings. So this dependence makes it difficult to implement stringent tobacco control measures without risking economic instability. And at the same time, many smallholder farmers in Malawi perceive or believe that tobacco farming is very economically viable because it's one of the most profitable crops that you can grow here. And that influences their decision to cultivate the crop. you proposing any form of tobacco control makes them wary, thinking that you are attacking tobacco growing when you're just maybe looking at the public health aspect of tobacco use. At the same time, as we explored in the paper, that there is limited collaboration between the key ministries that drive the tobacco growing, which is agricultural part, and then protection of health, which is the Ministry of Health part, and then economic planning, which is the Ministry of Finance part of it. So this lack of collaboration makes it difficult to come up with more focused tobacco control policies that address tobacco growing, that address the economy, and that address public health. So makes it be difficult to balance all those aspects. but it is known that tobacco use in Malawi contributes to a lot of public health issues. For instance, it is said that over 5,000 people die each year from tobacco-related illnesses, and then we still have a population of close to a million that are tobacco users every day in Malawi. That's a real public health challenge, which needs to be addressed, yes.
03:43
Joanna Junak: Yes, you mentioned and the article highlights that collaboration between ministries is limited. What benefits could the creation of an inter-ministerial committee on tobacco policy bring to Malawi?
03:58
Sahan Lungu: It can help in holistic policy development, for one. A collaborative approach facilitates the creation of policies that can consider all the aspects, the economy, the health, agriculture, and trade perspectives. And then you can lead to more balanced and effective strategies because you have to look at the unique situation that Malawi is in. It is one of the biggest challenges tobacco producers in the world. It probably belongs number one as the biggest producer of body tobacco. So just saying that you would just focus on one aspect of it, it would lead to many imbalances as we spoke about earlier. But having collaboration leads to more focused policies that engage all aspects related to the situation. At the same time, it can help with resource more optimization. You see, coordinating efforts can ensure the efficient allocation of resources, avoid duplication, and enhancing the impact of interventions that are aimed at both tobacco control and supporting farmers' livelihoods. At the same time, it can enhance communication, like real-time communication between these ministries that we've mentioned that need to collaborate. The interaction can improve information sharing, leading to timely and informed decision-making that address the multifaceted challenges of tobacco farming and control, as we've highlighted earlier on.
05:35
Joanna Junak: And how does tobacco farming affect Malawi's economy, especially at the household level?
05:46
Sahan Lungu: In Malawi, a lot of farmers are smallholder farmers. So most of them depend on whatever they produce on the farm for their yearly income. One of them, as I indicated earlier, the most profitable crop that you can have, you can grow in Malawi is tobacco. And it has the structures, the investment, where you know that you have an assured market, where you know that you will fetch a higher price. So it's easier to venture into tobacco farming, knowing that you'll get a higher return on investment than other crops because the markets of other crops are unstable most of the times. But even with tobacco farming, it is also becoming a challenge these days because of the intensive labor practices involved in growing tobacco, the fluctuating market prices, and the costs associated with production and transportation of tobacco. Those are on the higher side. And then for most Mahora farmers, they rely on loans from big tobacco companies here so that they can be able to produce. And then at the end of the day, you find that when the companies take out The loan, when you manage the loan and then you are left with what's for you, you see that the earning is not really that much. Yeah, so that's what I tried on its own.