Tobacco Asia

Volume 20, Number 5

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tobaccoasia 57 Naturally regeneration woodlands A multi-faceted subject But Duvenage also cautioned that there is no sin- gle one-size-fits-all approach to sustainability. The subject, he said, has multiple facets depending on the growing region and tobacco origin, and any sustainability programs must be custom-designed to suit the situation at a particular location. While efforts in achieving sustainability have always been made in some shape or form, it would be misguided to implement a rigid, universally valid methodology that suits every growing region and its local farmers. "The label 'sustainability' is easily thrown around," said Duvenage. "But it is a complex multi-faceted subject that is organic in its own way of evolving and complementing different applica- tion areas. For example, if you take the efforts that are accorded to the correct use and application of CPA for residue levels, they complement the agri- cultural labor practices efforts on health and safety for farm workers. Corroborating the hypothesis Duvenage's point of view, namely that sustainability measures in one area can complement the goals in another, is echoed by AOI's Costa: "While our sus- tainability programs are typically implemented with a primary objective in one pillar, we have found that there are often benefits in other pillars." To illustrate these inter-connected effects, Costa readily cited an example from Indonesia. There, AOI implemented numerous mechanization initiatives aimed at helping growers improve their efficiency and yield and, therefore, their profitability. But by introducing these initiatives, the company also was able to simultaneously reduce the likelihood of child labor as mechanization miti- gated human labor needs. In other words: Better farming mechanization not only increased farm efficiency and yield (the "crop" pillar), but also decreased child labor and the overall human work hours needed to produce that crop (the "people" pillar). "In 2015, our sustainable tobacco production initiatives eliminated more than 128,000 labor days," claimed Costa. AOI also assisted Indonesian farm- ers in moving away from wood as a curing fuel. They are now using palm oil kernel shells (POKS) instead, which when compared to wood fuel resulted in Courtesy of CNT GmbH Courtesy of CNT GmbH

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