ABUJA – As part of activities to mark the 2023 World No Tobacco Day, the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) on Thursday flagged off fresh campaign against tobacco farming.
It urged the Federal Government to roll out plans to help Tobacco farmers across the country to transition to nutritious and healthy crops such as maize ,cassava even livestock.
NTCA chairman, Akinbode Oluwafemi, specifically called on the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and other relevant agencies to work towards ensuring that tobacco farmers jettisoned the work, stressing that rather than being profitable, the farmers suffer from Greenleaf diseases, poverty and also contribute in environmental pollution.
Represented the Programme Manager, Chibuike Nwokorie, at a press conference organised for the event, Oluwafemi declared that the 2023 World No Tobacco Day with theme, ‘We need food, not Tobacco’, farmers who had invested many years growing tobacco had continued to live in poverty.
He said the commemoration of the event is targeted at bringing to the fore millions of lives lost to tobacco use and the many people around the world managing debilitating ailments brought on by tobacco use.
According to him, in Nigeria, it is unclear how much land is used for tobacco farming in Nigeria but this critical data gap makes it difficult to identify and plan interventions for tobacco farmers .
He said tobacco cultivation occurs primarily in Kwara, Osun, Oyo and Sokoto states, adding that during tobacco cultivation, wet tobacco leaves produce nicotine and other toxins that are absorbed into the body .
Oluwafemi said this causes green tobacco sickness among farmers adding that tobacco growers are also known to suffer from respiratory and neurological disorders due to exposure to tobacco leaves.
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