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Anti-Tobacco Campaigns Pose No Threats to Farmers' Livelihood  

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17 January 2017 14:48 WIB

A group of students rallied in Makassar on May 31, 2015, to commemorate the World No Tobacco Day. TEMPO/Fahmi Ali

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-

Written by: Istiqomatul Hayati

Anti-tobacco campaigners often have to face obstacles, including dealing with false accusations. For example, tobacco activists, who wish only for a healthy population, were accused of being an agent of capitalism, and many claimed that they received money from US pharmacists and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The accusation was quite insignificant, but it is indeed so annoying. One of the worst accusations ever pointed against us, tobacco activists, was when people accuse us of trying to kill tobacco farmer’s livelihood. One of our colleagues said that "what need to be controlled are cigarettes, not tobaccos. Tobaccos are innocent. Pity the farmers. No wonder your attacks against them never succeed."

Despite being so sad to hear such protest, I prefer not to make arguments. Similar statements can be heard from a lot of 'experts' or people that pretend to defend farmers. But in reality, they support capitalism. Why? Because we know that the cigarette industry pays them. Even if they strongly denied it, their 'overprotective' attitude was not supported by data, just ramblings. Even today, just look at how tobacco farmers live on the edge of poverty and have no room for breathing.

Is it true that we do not have empathy for farmer's plight? The Indonesian Institute for Social Development's Program Manager Deni Kurniawan said that people often make anti-tobacco campaigners clash with farmers. We have to admit that our humanity is our biggest weakness.

"One misleading accusation was when people said that anti-tobacco force farmers to grow alternative crops," said Deni when talking at the 3rd Indonesian Conference on Tobacco or Health in Yogyakarta at the end of last month.

Is it true? Deni has the numbers. Globally, 124 countries grow tobacco in 3.8 million hectares of land (Michael Eriksen, 2012. Tobacco Atlas (Georgia: American Cancer Society).

The largest tobacco farm is in China, which constitutes 42 percent of the world’s tobacco plantation, followed by Brazil, the US, and India. Meanwhile, the rest 34 percent of the world's tobacco is being produced other countries, including Indonesia, which only produces three percent of the world’s tobacco.

Talking in numbers, the Indonesian tobacco production had stagnated between 180 to 225 tons each year. On the other side, the cigarette industry needs 363,130 tons of tobacco in 2015 to produce 360 billion cigarettes in 2014. This means that the industry is lacking in raw material. So, where do they get the rest of the tobacco? Tobacco import of course. Industries usually import tobacco from China, Turkey, and Brazil because the prices are cheaper and the quality is better compared to domestic tobacco. This is one of the factors that make tobacco farmers suffer.

Now imagine, in the Industrial Ministry Roadmap on Production Output for the Tobacco Industry for 2015-2020 issued last year, the government plans to produce 524.2 billion cigarettes in 2020. How much tobacco should be imported to cover this needs? Increasing cigarette production could make farmers suffer more if industries continue to use imported tobacco.

Another issue faced by farmers is an unfavorable market mechanism. Wholesalers apply highly subjective and irregular standards in purchasing tobacco from farmers. They determine the price and quality of tobacco just by smelling it! Other problems include unstable weather and subpar post-harvest processes. The combination of several factors has a big role in determining tobacco selling price. In the end, tobacco price remains low and farmers continue to suffer losses while major conglomerates reap huge profits.

Major industries just kept on covering these facts. They even fooled farmers who have suffered losses because of their inability to negotiate with wholesalers into thinking that anti-tobacco campaign will make them even poorer.

Whereas, the Agriculture Ministry Strategic Plans for 2010-2014 had provided a detailed explanation on farmer's fundamental problems, which are not caused by tobacco control campaigns, but rather the following issues:


  1. Increasing environmental damage and global climate change.

  2. Lack of infrastructures, tools, land and water.

  3. Land status and ownership issues (9.55 million tobacco farmer families have less than 0.5 hectares).

  4. The national ‘seeding’ system has not been optimally implemented.

  5. Lack of access to capital, and high-interest rate.

  6. Lack of farmer’s capacity, organization and counseling.

  7. Vulnerable food and energy sustainability.

  8. Unoptimized food diversification

  9. Low bargaining power

  10. Lack of inter-sectoral coordination in supporting agricultural development.

  11. Unoptimized bureaucratic services and performance.


The accusations went even crazier when they say that we would kill farmer’s right of living if the government ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). However, if you want to read about the Convention just a little bit, FCTC articles clearly mention that we must assist farmers to switch to alternative plant.

Article 17: Provision of support for economically viable alternative activities

 

Parties shall, in cooperation with each other and with competent international and regional intergovernmental organizations, promote, as appropriate, economically viable alternatives for tobacco workers, growers and, as the case may be, individual sellers.

Article 18: Protection of the environment and the health of persons

 

 In carrying out their obligations under this Convention, the Parties agree to have due regard to the protection of the environment and the health of persons in relation to the environment in respect of tobacco cultivation and manufacture within their respective territories.

So why do we need to control tobacco?

As I have said before, 96 percent of tobaccos are used to produce cigarettes. The rest are used to make bidis, snuff, and clove cigarettes, products closely related to smoking and are just as dangerous and addictive as cigarettes.

Speaking of tobacco effect, it is a common knowledge, as printed in a cigarette packaging warning message that "Smoking can cause cancer, heart attacks, impotence, and maternity complication." Ricky, a 19 years-old high-school senior I met in West Papua at the end of last month, knew the warning by heart.

Ricky knows very well that smoking can harm him. But he just can’t quit. He smokes two packs a day. "I used to finish two packs in a day. Now I cut it down. If cigarette price climbs to Rp 50.000, I will quit because I wouldn't be able to afford it," Ricky said. He admitted that he often suffered asphyxiation and chest pains because of his addiction.

Cigarette’s harmful effects are not limited to those printed in the warning messages. There is a graphic image depicting mouth cancer, larynx cancer, punctured lungs, and miscarriage. Cigarettes could also cause poverty. Do you know why? Because even the poor community's second largest spending other than rice is made on cigarettes.

So people would rather not have protein and sufficient nutrition as long as they can smoke. Malnourished children? Nobody cares. School tuition fee can be postponed for five months, as long as budgets for cigarettes are not reduced.

Do you know that Indonesia is has the largest number of male smokers in the world? In 2015, the Tobacco Atlas released that 66 percent of Indonesian men above the age of 15 are active smokers. The number equals to 90 million. We are the smoking champion. This should not be considered as an achievement, but a disease we must eradicate.

Now let's talk numbers. The cigarette industry repeatedly claimed that they had paid a huge amount of excise to the government (while in reality, these excises are charged to the customers). Let's break down the numbers.

In 2015, tax revenue generated from cigarette excise was 139,5 trillion, around 96 percent of the total amount of the state's tax income. The number seems to be overwhelming, but let’s look a little closer.  The Health Social Security Organizing Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) said that the government's biggest spending in 2015 was mostly related to cigarettes or non-infectious diseases, such as lung cancer or lung tumor, mouth and throat cancer, stroke and coronary heart disease.

How much does the government spend? In 2013, the Research and Development Agency of the Health Ministry discovered that the government must pay Rp 378,75 trillion to treat the abovementioned diseases, a number three times higher compared to the cigarette excise revenue generated in 2015.

Imagine if we can cut down cigarette spending. If we don’t smoke for a day, we can save Rp 15,000. If we multiply that by 30 days, we can save Rp 450,000. In a year, we can save Rp 5.4 million. In 10 years, our saving can reach Rp 54 million just by quitting smoking. You can go to a hajj pilgrimage, pay a house down payment or use the money to help farmers plant alternative crops.

Therefore, based on this explanation, it would be extremely unfair if experts, clove cigarette supporters, and cigarette industry partners continue to brand tobacco activists as scapegoat over farmer's plight and poverty. If these facts failed to open your eyes to the truth, maybe you should take a day off and go on a picnic. (*)

This article has also been published in Indonesiana.tempo.co

DISCLAIMER

Articles published in the “Your Views & Stories” section of en.tempo.co website are personal opinions written by third parties, and cannot be related or attributed to en.tempo.co’s official stance.




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