The tobacco cultivation in croplands in the country is growing day by day, raising concern for possible food shortage. It is also destroying biodiversity and ecology of the country, said anti-tobacco activists and experts.
According to them, the tobacco cultivation has increased in the recent years. They have blamed tobacco companies for influencing farmers to grow tobacco instead of agro-crops. The farmers also choose the tobacco cultivation, as they don’t get fair prices of agricultural products, even the production costs.
According to the Agriculture Ministry, a total of 8.52 million hectares of lands are used for crops cultivation for the present time, which was over 20 million hectares in 1971. According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), at least 69,000 hectares of croplands are decreased every year.
Alongside with setting up roads and mills and industries and river erosion, the croplands are also decreased due to tobacco cultivation. According to the Agriculture Extension Department (AED), about 8,000 hectares of lands were used for tobacco cultivation in 2013. The lands in Kushtia, Meherpur, Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Bandarban, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Jessore and Manikganj districts are used for tobacco cultivation more than in other parts of the country.
Some tobacco activists said, the original figure of tobacco-cultivated lands is higher than the official figure.
Talking to The New Nation, Syed Mahbubul Alam Tahin of Bangladesh Anti-Tobacco Alliance (BATA) said that a number of farmers are switching from rice cultivation to tobacco farming, as they are not even getting the production costs for their agro-products. The tobacco companies are also responsible for increasing the tobacco cultivation, as they influence farmers for it, alluring them of short-term benefits, he added.
Farida Akhter of UBINIG, an NGO, who is working against tobacco cultivation, pointed out negative impacts of the tobacco cultivation. She said, the country would face food crisis, if tobacco cultivation can’t be stopped immediately. The farmers grow tobacco in croplands. So, it is common answer that farmers cultivate tobacco from October to March. This is the time for paddy and winter crops. So increasing tobacco cultivation will certainly cause food insecurity, she added.
It was reported that British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB), Dhaka Tobacco and Abul Khayer Tobacco, among other companies, are influencing the farmers to grow tobacco. Rezaul Islam from Vomordoh village under Gangni upazila in Meherpur district told The New Nation, the companies in the the area encourage farmers for tobacco cultivation, providing elements of tobacco. The companies also sanction advance loan and supply some other facilities for the farmers, The tobacco growers are working under the companies, he added.
Rezaul Islam said that he was involved with the tobacco cultivation, as he found it more profitable than growing other crops. Like Rezaul Islam, a number of farmers abandoned rice farming for tobacco.
Tobacco companies buy the crop, guaranteeing a steady demand and prices. They don’t have to be worried about the sale of the tobacco products, as the companies patronise.
The trend of abandoning rice farming could worsen food insecurity and shortage.
According to experts, alongside with decreasing of croplands, tobacco cultivation loses the fertility of land.
