Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Wednesday, the World Health Organization asserted that it is working to help a growing number of farmers abandon tobacco to strengthen food security, especially in Africa.  

WHO is working with other UN agencies to support farmers willing to switch from tobacco growth to food agriculture, as the pilot plan in Kenya has already proved successful.

Ruediger Krech, the WHO's director for health promotion, told reporters in Geneva that "a record of 349 million people face acute food insecurity and that is up from 135 million in 2019," adding: "Then we have 124 countries which grow tobacco as a cash crop, covering an estimated 3.2 million hectares of land. Approximately 200,000 hectares of land are cleared every year for tobacco crop growing."  

According to the WHO, tobacco growing goes beyond affecting the health of smokers and farmers as it poses a threat to food security. The agency is already concerned that tobacco firms are gaining strength in Africa, due to a 20% rise in tobacco plantations across the continent since 2005.  

"It is often said that tobacco farming would be so important for economic growth. This is a myth that we urgently need to dispel," said Krech, stressing that it only accounts for just over 1% of GDP in five countries: Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and North Macedonia.  

"So the profits go to the global tobacco companies."  

The tobacco industry is seen to be trapping farmers in a "cycle of dependency" which gives them little to no control over product prices and quality, and leaves them with the "need to repay the debt before they can discontinue the work for big tobacco," said Krech.  

A credit program has been set up by the WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme to help pay off tobacco industry debts and change their crops to food.  

In Migori County in southwest Kenya, 2,040 farmers have been helped in the first year, and Krech expressed surprise to "see so much interest". 

"But they saw that this is a viable alternative," he said, stating that "they have already shifted to growing high iron beans. This moving away from growing also meant that children can go to school instead of growing tobacco... Mind you, 1.3 million children are working in tobacco fields."  

Read next: Secondhand smoking can cause asthma 2 generations later: Study

Krech expressed hopes on behalf of the WHO to have around 5,000 farmers join - 4,000 in Kenya and 1,000 in Zambia - by the end of the next season.  

"From there, we will move to other countries in Asia and South America, because that's where the big tobacco growth still takes place," he relayed.

In a statement, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "Tobacco is responsible for eight million deaths a year, yet governments across the world spend millions supporting tobacco farms". 

"By choosing to grow food instead of tobacco, we prioritize health, preserve ecosystems, and strengthen food security for all", he concluded.