Ghana marks World No Tobacco Day

Mr. Issah Ali, VALD Executive Director

Ghana on Tuesday joined the rest of the world to celebrate World No Tobacco Day ( WNTD) with a call on government to prioritize on how to feed its citizens over the production of tobacco.

Marking the day in Ghana, the Vision for Alternative Development (VALD) and the Institute for Leadership and Development ( INSLA) have jointly called on the government to find ways of minimizing the production and consumption of tobacco in the country.

In a joint press statement issued in Accra on Monday and jointly signed by Mr. Issah Ali and Benjamin Anabila, the respective Secretaries for the two Civil Society Organizations called on the government to focus on how to make life meaningful and affordable for the people than jeopardizing their lives through the production of tobacco.

The call, according to the press statement was in line with the 2023 celebration of the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) celebration which is being held under the theme "We need food, not Tobacco."

Mr. Issah Ali mentioned that the Tobacco Tactics of the University of Bath in 2014 stated that 2,545 metric tons of tobacco were produced in Ghana, covering 0.04% of agricultural land. He added that the 2023 global campaign aims at raising awareness about alternative crop production and marketing opportunities for tobacco farmers and encouraging them to grow sustainable, nutritious crops.

Mr. Ali noted that tobacco consumption has contributed to climate change which has affected the environment, through deforestation and population, thereby hindering the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Mr. Ali further stated that the focus of the 2023 WNTD campaign is to call on governments and policy-makers to step up legislation, develop suitable policies and strategies, that will provide favorable market conditions for tobacco farmers to shift to growing food crops that would provide them and their families with a better life.

On his part, Mr. Benjamin Anabila, the Director of INSLA, mentioned that worldwide, there are over 1.3 billion people who use tobacco; the majority of whom live in resource-constrained countries.

According to him, each year, tobacco claims the lives of more than 8 million people, including 1.2 million lives lost from exposure to secondhand smoke. Unless urgent action is taken to reverse this global epidemic, he added that tobacco will kill as many as one billion people this century, making it one of the greatest sources of preventable deaths and diseases.

Mr. Anabila added that the growing food crisis is driven by conflicts and wars, climatic shocks, and the economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. He indicated that structural causes like the choice of crop also have an impact, and a look into tobacco growing reveals how it contributes to increased food insecurity:

Mr. Anabila bemoaned that across the globe around 3.5 million hectares of land are converted for tobacco growing each year.

“Land used for growing tobacco develops a lower capacity for growing other crops, such as food, since tobacco depletes soil fertility,” Mr. Anabila observed.