DRAFT
BACKGROUNM BRIEFING PAPER - E
Tobacco growing in develoELiIEZ ts-
_~~22~ntries inhibi the production
of food cro s
RESPONSE
1. In most developing countries there is abundant
land
available and thus its usage for the growing of
tobacco in
no way inhibits the production of food crops.
Objective
evidence of this is provided by the findings of
the
Economist Intelligence Unit, which carried out
on-the-
ground case studies in tobacco growing areas in
Brazil,
Cost Rica, India, Malaysia and Nigeria in 1979,
subsequently publishing an E.I.U. Corrmodity
Monograph on
the contribution of leaf tobacco to the economic
and social
development of the Third World. The condensed
version of
this Monograph, published in 1981, concludes: "In
each of
the case study areas - though to some extent
Sokoto
(Northern Nigeria) is an exception - tobacco does
not
seriously compete with or compromise production of
food
crops."
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.2. Even in tobacco growing areas, there is still
ample acreage I'D
c0
for arable food crops. At the Latin American
Regional (-Ili
Q.-J
Conference of the International Geographical
Union, held in
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Brazil from the 9th-21st Aug7ust, 1982. Dr. T.M.
Burley of
the Economist Intelligence Unit delivered a paper
on rural
development in the southern region of Brazil. On
this
point he said: "In 1977/78 the Southern region
tobacco crop
was produced by 114,790 farmers, thus making well
over half
a million people dependent on it for their
livelihood. The
average farmer cultivated 1.61 hectares of
tobacco, as
compared with the average total arable area per
farm of
21.86 hectares." These statistics demonstrate that
on
tobacco farms in a major tobacco growing area,
tobacco only
occupies just over 7% of the arable farmland, the
remainder
being available for the production of soya beans,
maize,
wheat, rice, potatoes and minor crops such as
black beans,
peanuts and cassava, which are all grown in the
region.
3. Since the early 1960's, increased emphasis has
been placed
on food production in developing countries,
particularly in
the development of new plant varieties
(cultivars), the use:
of fertilizers, improved methods of plant
protection and
hygiene, mechanisation and small-scale irrigation.
An
additional contribution to the encouragement of
more
productive farming made by the tobacco companies
has been
to demonstrate clearly the benefits of crop
rotation
systems.
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4. -Through the application of new agricultural
techniques to
tobacco and where appropriate, to rotation food
crops, the
level of agricultural and related business
activity has
thus risen faster in tobacco growing than in
non-tobacco
growing areas.
5. As a result of improved land cultivation and
the use of
residual fertilizer techniques, increased yields
of
foodcrops in tobacco areas have been recorded -
and much of
the credit for this must go to the tobacco
companies'
ext,bnsion services, which provide advice to the
farmers on
a continuing basis.
6. Increased yields from the use of fertilizers on
tobacco
crops have encouraged their use on other crops. A
similar
transfer of technology has occurred in the use of
crop
chemicals. Tobacco growing has finaiced the
purchase of
sprayers, thus giving farmers the means of
applying crop
chemicals to their 6:ther crops.
7. In several Central American countries (e.g.
Panama, Costa
Rica and Nicaragua) tobacco is grown under
irrigation. The
purchase by the farmers of the pumps and ancillary
equipment for tobacco growing has been aided by
the tobacco
companies, and the farmers use the equipment out
of season
to increase the yield of their rotation crops, the
scale of
production of which would not otherwise have
justified the c0
expense of irrigation. A similar "spin-off" effect
has
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occured with tractors and cultivation equipment in
West
Africa. In the State of Western Nigeria, the
tobacco
companies' sponsored tractor programmes are used
both by
tobacco and by non-tobacco farmers and through
their
example have led to the establishment of similar
systems by
government and by other operators.
8. In the more advanced agricultrual economies of
Venezuela,
Argentina and Brazil, the tobacco companies have
established soil analytical programmes, often
conducted in
their own laboratories. This enables advice to be
given to
farmers on lime and fertilzer requirements. Where
tobacco
is grown in rotation with other crops, the soil
analysis
can be used to provide a fertilizer programme for
the
alternate cr.op.
9. The rapid spread of intensive cropping in. the
developing
countries has brought with it problems of soil
erosion and..
loss of natural soil condition and also weeds,
pests, and
disease. Particular'ly in the tropics, this loss
of organic
matter and soil structure is accentuated where
primitive
tools and implements are used. Sub-soiling and
deeper
ploughing have been advised by the tobacco
companies, and
are now common practice in Central America and
parts of
East and West Africa as a means of breaking up the
hard pan
which had developed. Water permeability has been
improved
and the potential root zone of the soil increased.
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10. In Northern N,,.-eria, the tobacco ccmpanies
are evaluating
alternative cu.-,ivation techniques which result
in reduced
wind erosion a, the beginning of the wet season.
In
Western Nigcri2 block farming experiments have
increased
both tobacco and food crop yields. On land which
is
undulating or hilly, as in Kenya and Sri Lanka,
farmers are
advised and encouraged to construct contours and
plant on
the contour. In Brazil, 95 per cent of the tobacco
crop is
planted by farmers who observe the principles and
practice
of soil conservation.
September, 1982
cc
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