BUNGOMA, Kenya– Tobacco has existed since prehistoric times, with Bungoma County being one of the main tobacco-growing regions in Kenya for a long time.
In the 1970s, British American Tobacco (BAT) introduced tobacco to the area as a cash crop.
The Ministry of Agriculture statistics show that the number of tobacco farmers contracted by tobacco companies in Kenya increased by 67 per cent from 1972 to 1991 and 36 per cent from 1991 to 2000.
However, in Bungoma County, the effect of tobacco cultivation on food crop growth, home food security, and household nutrition is visible today.
With significant amounts of rain and ideal growth conditions for cash and food crops, Malakisi, one of the nine Bungoma County sub-counties, is the most affected place.
Food insecurity in the Malakisi sub-county has raised concerns about whether tobacco production benefited the farmers.
A previous study found that farmers in the region devoted too much of their time tending to tobacco crops at the expense of food crops, leaving almost no time to grow them. This also resulted in food shortages in the area.
To compare the state of household food security, Y News spoke with farmers who grew tobacco in addition to food crops and those who grew tobacco only.
Why Malakisi area is food insecure
Over time, it became clear that the area is food insecure and that, as a result of the poor profits from growing tobacco, the majority of tobacco farmers in the region live below the poverty line.
Y News also established that the farmers had been growing tobacco because the tobacco firms provided them with farm inputs on credit, which was subtracted from their payment when the cured tobacco leaves were delivered to the contracting companies.
Some of the interviewed farmers revealed that today, they had chosen to intercrop cassava with soya beans, generating more income, as opposed to cultivating tobacco, which they consider a health risk with minimal income.
“I started by alternating tobacco with other crops like soya bean and cassava, but I have now abandoned it completely since it demands a lot of investment and the returns are low,” said Christine Maruti from Malakisi.
She said that unlike tobacco, whose primary market is BAT, soya beans and other cereals like sorghum have a steady market, guaranteeing her a stable income to support her family.
“I have never regretted since I invested in such crops like soya beans since there is a ready market and I earn more,” she said, noting that she generates an average of Ksh 26 000 every three months from her current venture.
Why Bungoma farmers are embracing crop diversification
According to the Ministry of Agriculture statistics, the acreage under tobacco cultivation in Bungoma County has reduced from 1,500 hectares to less than 500 hectares in the past two years.
Farmers like Maruti are now diversifying to cassava, sorghum, groundnuts, and soya beans due to the steady market for these products.
For many years, farmers in the region heavily depended on tobacco farming as their main cash crop. Still, delayed payments, coupled with the high cost of production, drove them to alternative sources of income to sustain their families.
The farmers could go months without receiving pay despite investing heavily in tobacco cultivation and curing. This has contributed to deforestation due to the wanton harvesting of trees for wood fuel.
“We had to wait for long before receiving payments for our tobacco, subjecting us to financial challenges. Furthermore, most farmers suffered from health hazards due to curing of tobacco as a result of respiratory diseases,” said John Etyang’ from Napara in Bumula Constituency.
Why tobacco crop undergoes curing after harvesting
Y News established that once harvested, tobacco undergoes curing, in which the tobacco leaves are dried in a controlled environment to prepare them for processing.
The tobacco taste develops during curing. Once cured, the leaf is transported from the field to a threshing plant, where it is prepared to produce cigarettes or other tobacco products.
Most farmers used “flue-curing,” which involves using fire, necessitating firewood, and “air curing,” which consists of drying tobacco leaves in a ventilated room for 10 to 14 days.
The following method is “smoke curing,” where the leaves are dried using smoke.
Unfortunately, most tobacco farmers were exposed to many occupational health and safety risks characterised by many physical, chemical, and biological hazards.
For instance, nicotine poisoning developed during tobacco curing was one of the health-related complications that resulted from farmers’ regular contact with wet tobacco leaves.
How tobacco curing cost the lives of Bungoma residents
According to Etyang’, a father of seven, some of the families lost their loved ones due to ailments attributed to the poor curing process of tobacco.
“The traditional krill used by most farmers to cure tobacco emitted heavy soot which when inhaled caused respiratory diseases and in some cases resulting in deaths,” said Etyang’ noting that an acre of tobacco generated an average of Ksh 30, 000 which was too low to sustain their families.
Etyang further said that farmers are also exposed to risks of physical injuries caused by fire during tobacco curing.
“As a result, I have since switched to maize farming and cultivation of organ crops like sorghum, groundnuts and cassava to attain food security and stable income generation,” explained Etyang’ who has no regrets after abandoning tobacco farming.
Meanwhile, the Bungoma County Health Department could not account for the number of deaths recorded as a result of inhaling or curing tobacco in the region.
In Napara village, the residents only have misery to show for their tobacco farming.
Eugene Mung’ahu said locals started tobacco farming as early as 1976, but their living standards have been nothing to write home about.
“All we see in this village is nothing short of misery. Over 40 years since farmers started growing tobacco here, they are still living in abject poverty,” lamented Mung’ahu, a retired teacher who now runs a private school in the area.
Why Bungoma County is reeling from land degradation
According to Mung’ahu, many years of tobacco farming have transformed the area’s land into “a heap of unproductive soil with no commercial value.”
“You see, about 15 years ago, we had huge forests in this area, but they have disappeared because the trees were cut down and used as fuel for curing tobacco. Tobacco farming is one of the most dangerous economic activities, and I call on all stakeholders, like the county government, to support our people with alternative sources of income,” explained Mung’ahu.
Some of the farmers interviewed said they stopped cultivating tobacco because they lacked firewood to cure the crop.
“I had to incur a lot of expenses sourcing for wood fuel to cure the produce and, in turn, wait for a long period before receiving payment. This discouraged me from investing more in the crop,” said Jackson Barasa, a farmer from Amagoro.
He said the region has experienced massive deforestation due to the enormous demand for logs for tobacco curing, contributing to soil erosion and infertility.
“The indiscriminate cutting of trees for wood fuel has contributed to massive soil erosion during the rainy season, thus leading to the infertility of the soil and declined crop productivity,” said Nancy Naliaka, a farmer from Malakisi.
Since then, the government has introduced economically viable alternatives to cultivating the crop through the Tobacco Control Board to empower farmers with stable sources of income.
It includes horticulture suitable in Malakisi, which has proved profitable to the farmers.
What health experts think about tobacco farming
Health experts warn that unproductive curing of tobacco contributes to such ailments as cancer of the throat, which is expensive to treat.
Dr Robert Lidweyo Kirungu, a dentist at the Chuka County Referral Hospital, observed that tobacco farming has a detrimental effect on farmers through exposure to tobacco compounds or chemicals (pesticides) used during cultivation.
“In summary, the health effects could range from acute nicotine poisoning to damage to the liver and kidneys. Psychiatric problems have also been reported in research. There is an associated effect on the peripheral and central nervous system associated with chemicals used in tobacco cultivation,” said Dr Kirungu.
The medic indicated that some chemicals, such as cypermethrin, have a demonstrated carcinogenic (ability to cause cancer) potential.
“Farmers need to be sensitised to safe farming practices and, if possible, stop tobacco cultivation as a product,” he said.
Because personal protective equipment (PPE) is not always used, the health of tobacco farmers and workers has long been in danger. Various symptoms reported by the farmers suggest green tobacco sickness (GTS).
According to experts, tobacco companies can also significantly impact the environment through corporate social responsibility, supporting projects that provide a sustainable environment with low hazards to farmers’ health and safety.
Tobacco farming-related requirements should be added to the tobacco control regulations, which are skewed towards tobacco smoking.
Establishing goals for tobacco corporations regarding farmer safety and environmental preservation could improve the use of sustainable techniques in tobacco production.
