4
ISSUE 094, January 1-31, 2014
Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth
Tobacco farmers short-changed in the multi-million shilling industry By HENRY OWINO Tobacco farmers in Migori County are having second thoughts whether to continue investing in the cash crop or opt out because of the challenges they are facing. The irate farmers accuse leading tobacco firms in the area of underpaying them as well as releasing cheques late. The three firms that operate in the area are Mastermind Kenya, British American Tobacco (BAT) and Alliance One. Among their grievances which led to a recent protest are; zoning of the area into different sectors to be owned by particular companies, and farmers in each zone are to sell their tobacco leaves to the company even if they did not like it. Mastermind Tobacco Company was singled out as the worst in paying the wages. Farmers argued that Mastermind Company accepted delivery of tobacco leaves from the farmers but it took very long to pay up. However, in a rejoinder, Joseph Wanguhu, Chief Executive Officer Kenya Tobacco Farmers Union Migori County, clarified that they had cleared all outstanding arrears. Currently Migori County Assembly is in the process of passing a Bill on payments. The Bill proposes that all sold tobacco leaves must be paid to the farmers within a period of seven days. The payment rates had been increased from an average of KSh171 to KSh223 starting on January 1, this year. However, despite Kenyan firms increasing payment rates, Tanzanian companies are still higher at KSh320 of the same tobacco grade and quantity.
In a bid to protect farmers from extortion and exploitation by tobacco companies, more tobacco Bills that will soon become law are being discussed in the Migori County Assembly. Earlier, tobacco farmers in the county bitterly protested over Mastermind Tobacco Company for frustrating them and raised it with the County Governor, Zacchary Okoth Obado.
Challenge
They also accused Mastermind Tobacco Kenya Limited of turning to other countries (Tanzania) where their activities face little challenges, if any. For instance, the highest paid farmer earns KSh220 per kilogramme of the best grade leaves, while the lowest gets only KSh80. Yet farmers across the border in Tanzania are paid KSh300 per kilogramme for the same leaves grade in Kenya. The farmers now demand for an equal payment as in Tanzania. They lamented that they had little to show for their sweat while tobacco firms smile on the way to the bank. Meanwhile, Nelson Wahanga Mwita, Deputy Governor Migori County, accused the firms of exploiting contracted farmers. “In most homes, residents are living in abject poverty. They also suffer from ailments. There is also the problem of addicted sniffers and snuffer who never part away from chewing raw tobacco, chain smokers and high levels school dropouts,” he noted. Wahanga assured the irate farmers that the county government will stand by them and protect their interests.
A tobacco farm in Uriri, Migori County. Tobacco farmers in the County are demanding better pay for their hard work. Picture: Courtesy According to Tom Owiti, chairman of tobacco farmers in Uriri Constituency, they will push for their rights from the multinational tobacco firms. Owiti said in tobacco growing zones, especially Uriri and Kuria West constituencies, where the cash crop is grown in large scale, farmers were unhappy with how they were being mistreated. One of them, Tobias Chacha from Kuria West Constituency, is totally opposed to the zoning describing it as dictatorial and called for its scrapping immediately. “Forcing farmers to sell their crop to specific firms at fixed low prices which are paid late is a sign of dictatorship,” said Chacha. He recalled that Deputy Governor Wahanga had called Francis Kimani, Director General at Mastermind One for a meeting but the latter failed to turn up. Instead, Kimani sent junior staff to represent him for the charged meeting. Present at the meeting to listen to famers’ grievances were: Francis Mutinda of Mastermind; Major Sam Odera, Charles Mundia and Geoffrey Chege of BAT Kenya; Patrick Kimani, Eliud Papul, and Martin Masika from Alliance One. Moses Chamwada, chairman of
tobacco growers in Migori County, appealed to the county government to follow up on the pledges made. “Many farmers are yet to pay school fees for their children due to lack of money, and yet they have worked hard and delivered several hundreds of kilos of tobacco leaves to the companies,” Chamwada said. The Kenyan Government earns a lot of revenue from taxing tobacco companies every year and is thus a major beneficiary of the farmers’ sweat.
Campaign
Past and current trends in tobacco control have not been geared towards campaigning against smoking alone. Very little, if any, effort is directed at assessing the impact of tobacco growing on the farmers and the environment. Many questions remain unanswered in regard to tobacco growing in the country and especially the health consequences. A lot of biomass is used in processing tobacco leaves. How safe is this practice to the environment? How commensurate are tobacco earnings to the effort put in by farmers? And what are the health implications of tobacco growing on the farmers? These are very important questions that need to be answered
by a researcher. Nevertheless, preliminary investigations reveal that tobacco farming is labour intensive involving almost an entire family, leaving no room for growing of food crops. In Uriri, an important tobacco growing zone in Migori County apart from Kuria, farmers depend heavily on tobacco and do not envisage any alternative income generating activities at the moment. Currently, major tobacco processing companies in Migori County have not paid farmers for tobacco delivered for months. Uriri, generally, like most tobacco growing zones in Kenya, is endowed with fertile land, adequate and consistent rainfall and, therefore, supports most food and cash crops. Cane do well in the region, the main drawback is lack of other firms to give South Nyanza Sugar Company a run for its money. Time has come for the national and county governments to come to the rescue of tobacco farmers who feel abandoned in their hour of need by the authorities. Migori farmers are now turning to their respective Members of Parliament in the tobacco-growing zones, to take up the matter with the Ministry of Agriculture and Labour.
Outlawing public smoking has helped make Nairobi a clean environment Continued from page 1 smoke permeates any environment, causing its inhalation by people within that environment. Exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke causes disease, disability and death. However, restaurants, hotels and pubs have reserved smoking areas for customers. This is unlike the old days when smokers could puff off in the public in bus stops, public toilets and transport as well as salons among other premises.
Caution
Some of the diseases caused by smoking are labelled on the cigarette packets as a precaution. For example, mouth and lung cancer, heart disease as well as teeth decay are among other complicated diseases. According to Robert Muzungu, a retailer at the central business district next to Tele-Posta Towers cigarette smokers have reduced for fear of the Tobacco Act. However, he admits it is the fastest selling commodity in the streets of the city that has
a population of million residents. Others are condoms and mobile phone air time scratch cards. He notes: “Most smokers prefer to buy one or two sticks of cigarettes in the streets instead of a whole packet of 20 due to the high cost.” Muzungu adds: “Kenyans are facing difficult times and some people have stopped smoking tobacco completely.” Muzungu sells different brands of cigarettes but the most expensive one is Embassy which goes for KSh7.50 per stick or KSh150 per packet “Apart from selling cigarettes, I also sell many small items that my customers buy in small quantities but on a regular basis,” explains Muzungu. According to Muzungu smoking is a matter of choice. No one is forced to smoke because it kills but there is pleasure in it that once you are in it, leaving is not easy, it is addictive. The consistent smoke inside the smoking zone has made him suffer from lung and eye related problems. He suffers from on and off chest pains and has difficulty in breathing.
“I spend most of my time inside this building inhaling all the smoke puffed by the customers. I stay here the whole day in this smoke from 8am to 5pm daily except on Sundays. If I had a better job to do, I would have gone for it,” he says regrettably. Muzungu admits that tobacco and its products cause diseases but it is a business like any other as long he makes profit out it. He is assured of daily bread for his family at the end of the day.
Scarcity
Patrick Mutiso, who is a smoker, complains that there are few smoking zones in the central business district and more need to be identified. Mutiso confesses that he knows the dangers of smoking but quitting has been a big problem. Self-discipline is important, he says. “In my estate and house, I rarely smoke because of the rules the landlord put for the tenants but once I am in town, I make sure I pay
back,” says Mutiso. He adds: “I smoke moderately like 10 sticks of cigarettes a day and this costs me KSh50 on the higher side because friends also promote friends.” Mutiso wants law governing smoking in open public places in Nairobi County especially the central business district to be lifted. This is because he feels that there are few smoking zones. He admits that sometimes people are forced to hide in restricted public places just to smoke and kill the urge. “Let me admit that I have smoked in those hidden places not designated for smoking because smoking centre close to our offices is ever packed to capacity,” Mutiso explains. Nairobi County government deserves credit for enforcing the Tobacco Control Act 2007 in the central business district to protect the interests of non-smokers. The Act also outlawed advertisement for tobacco and its products so they no longer profit media houses. The companies can carry out corporate social responsibility but without any form of outdoor billboards.