Tobacco Asia

Volume 20, Number 5

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tobaccoasia 59 A Question of Conscience As the anti-tobacco lobby often accuses tobacco merchants to push "sustainability" merely for the purpose of justifying "trading in a dangerous product". Tobacco Asia took the liberty of confronting the contributors to this story, asking them whether their sus- tainability programs are really nothing more than a means to an end to placate industry opponents. Unsurprisingly, all respondents strongly rejected the suggestion, insisting that their support of sustainable tobacco production is based on honest intentions. "From seed to carton, it is our responsibility to manage and invest in our operations to maximize efficiencies and minimize risks," said Alliance One International's Jose Maria Costa.. The changes that we make in the process ultimately lead to improving the stability and livelihoods of our contracted farmer families and their communities, our employees and our company, while also improving the quality of our product and reducing our impact on the environment That point of view was largely shared by Contraf-Nicotex-Tobacco's Ian Duvenage, but he also admitted that increased public awareness of leaf companies' sustainabil- ity efforts can indeed "be perceived as 'jumping on the sustainability train'", although they're essentially grounded in sound business sense. But as a matter of fact, sustain- ability programs "…add impetus to the holistic positive return throughout the supply chain," he continued, "starting from better custody of the environment to better training, safety and growing practices for the farmers to improved yields for farmers, merchants, manufacturers and shareholders and ultimately to higher consumer satisfaction at the end of the chain." Duvenage also said he was aware that the industry would continue to receive negative coverage and that the anti-tobacco lobby's "portrayal of greenwashing and band wagons" is going to persist. "But this should not undermine the efforts that are being put in by organizations and individual stakeholders… because they are the beneficiaries allowed to reap the positives." Meanwhile, Star Tobacco International's Iqbal Lambat opined that one needs to be careful to distinguish between "lip service sustainability" and "step change sustainability". "Some leaf merchants feel that they have satisfied their sustainability conscience by do- nating a part of profits to community facilities such as schools or medical centers." Yet such profit donations – without concerted efforts at implementing a wholesome sustain- ability program – could not constitute a "game changer" for farming communities. Lambat also harshly lashed out at tobacco industry opponents, particularly FCTC under WHO. "It is easy for these folks to practice 'arm chair economics' from the coziness of an office in Geneva, far away from the realities of life encountered by a [smallholder] tobacco farmer in Malawi, for instance, who is being asked to drop tobacco and seek an 'alternative crop'. There is no alternative crop in Malawi, where burley tobacco has been cultivated for over 100 years. Or consider the 105,000 farmers in Zimbabwe who only know how to grow tobacco…," he said. The FEADES project has already been present- ed to the tobacco marketing boards and tobacco farmer associations of the previously named five countries, including their ministries of agriculture. CNT: covering the basics before long-term goals Just like Star Tobacco, CNT also predominantly sources in Africa. In Zimbabwe, for example, the company has embarked on a number of sustain- able forestry projects that have been warmly wel- comed by local populations, as well as different government agencies, NGOs and numerous other impacted stakeholders. "These projects continue to roll out through our growing [farming] communities," said Du- venage. Parallel with reforestation, the viability of CNT's contract growers are being improved through reductions in farming costs, as well as improved management techniques. However, the frequent absence of land tenure in Africa greatly hampers growers' long-term planning, which neg- atively impacts sustainability initiatives. "Hence, the designs of our sustainability programs are de- termined by each distinctive community setting rather than a 'one size fits all' methodology. We have found the achievement lies in the detail," Du- venage asserted. Addressing these sustainability basics is important to CNT, because it is difficult to discuss long-term goals with people who find current everyday survival a challenge. "But grow- ers with confidence in their future are more likely to invest in further sustainability goals." Sustainability at all costs? So, are sustainability initiatives categorically rammed down farmers' throats by the tobacco merchants just because they think it's the right thing to do? Not at all, according to STI's Lam- bat. His company has extensively researched farmer sustainability in all major tobacco origins worldwide and reached the following conclusions: Firstly, sustainability matters only in countries with low disposable incomes and where tobacco is the prime cash-generating crop. Secondly, sus- tainability efforts only apply in countries where leaf merchant offtake is uncertain, for example in situations when tobacco sales are handled through auction systems and other sales channels rather than being contracted or guaranteed under con- tract. Thirdly, a lack of sustainability is actually often created by leaf merchants themselves in the form of single-year contracts, thereby denying the farmer the opportunity to plan his and his fam- ily's livelihood farther ahead than just one growing season (i.e. one year). On the basis of these conclusions, Lambat said, only countries in sub-Saharan Africa and a few countries in Asia qualify for sustainable tobac- co farming initiatives. At the same time that would mean that the US, Europe, and South America are off the tobacco farmer sustainability map. The tobacco ABC Star Tobacco also believes that the so-called "Tobacco ABC" will become a reality in the next 10-15 years. "ABC" standing for Africa, Brazil, and China, these regions are expected to account for more than 80% of global tobacco leaf production within the stated time period. "Crudely put, Brazil does no longer need a sustainability helping hand, and China's state-run tobacco Industry is well taken care of as it already con- tributes slightly over 9% to the country's GDP," explained. Lambat. That leaves, at least as far as STI is concerned, only Africa – and sub-Saharan Africa in particular. "The region that [at present] most needs a sustainability pillar is sub-Saharan Africa, which can produce world class tobaccos far superior in quality to [those of] Asia, and where the sheer value of a sustainability-sup- ported crop can indeed trigger an 'African green revolution'," he said. "With- out going into detail, I think that can be done with irrigated and mechanized farms once the 12 weeks used to cultivate tobacco are over," he said, referring to the possibility of utilizing now fallow fields for food production.

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