Accra, Ghana//-Media Alliance in Tobacco Control and Health (MATCOH), a Civil Society Organization (CSO) of journalists engaged in strong advocacy for policies, regulations, and programs to drastically reduce the use of tobacco and its related substances in Ghana today joined the world to mark World No Tobacco Day (WNTD).
“As an organization – MATCOH believes that there is an urgent need for African Countries to take legal measures to reduce tobacco growing and help farmers to move into the production of alternative food crops.
Tobacco growing harms our health, the health of farmers and the planet’s health”, Chairman of MATCOH, Jeorge Wislson Kingson said in a statement issued in Accra to mark the day which is themed: ‘We need food, not Tobacco’.
MATCOH is calling on governments to make a pledge to use legislation to reduce the growing of tobacco to the barest minimum and support farmers with necessary subsidies and agricultural inputs to grow more sustainable crops to safeguard the food security of the continent, it added.
“We are also calling on all advocates against the use of tobacco and its related products to continue the fight until Ghana and the rest of Africa becomes a tobacco free society”.
MATCOH therefore called on all stakeholders to raise awareness on tobacco farming in various communities by educating these farmers to move away from tobacco and grow sustainable crops that helps the food security status of the country.
“It is imperative to note that, globally, over 3.5 million hectares of land have been converted into tobacco farms annually with heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers that lead to land degradation. This land therefore cannot support the growth of other crops because tobacco depletes the soil fertility of the land”.
In celebrating the day, the World Health Organization (WHO) is highlighting the health and other risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.
Tobacco use is the single most important cause of globally preventable deaths, it kills one in 10 adults worldwide, according to the world health body.
This year’s theme aims to create awareness about alternative crop production and marketing opportunities for tobacco farmers and encourage them to grow sustainable, nutritious crops. It is also aimed at exposing the tobacco industry’s efforts to interfere with attempts to substitute tobacco growing with sustainable crops, thereby contributing to the global food crisis, it added.
