Because previous disincentives for tobacco farming and use have proved ineffectual, the government is working to formulate a policy under the Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2013.
Tobacco cultivation has risen despite previous ad hoc initiatives to discourage it, including a Bangladesh Bank circular halting loan facilities for tobacco farming and a ban by the Agriculture Ministry on using subsidised fertiliser to farm tobacco, according to Syed Mahfuzul Haque, technical officer on tobacco control at the World Health Organisation (WHO) office in Bangladesh.
A weak monitoring system and aggressive interference by tobacco companies has led to a shocking increase in tobacco farming in Bangladesh, he said.
The initiative is being taken as per the provisions of the Tobacco Control Act, 2013, which calls for a comprehensive policy to discourage tobacco farming.
Section 12 of the Tobacco Control Act reads: “The government shall make necessary guidelines to promote for discouragement of producing and using tobacco products, and discouragement to set up industry of tobacco and tobacco related products, discouragement of producing tobacco related produces and farming.”
Roxana Quader, additional secretary of the Ministry of Health said: “We have already taken the initiative and hope to finalise the draft policy by December.”
A committee consisting of various stakeholders including the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Education, Commerce and the National Board of Revenue has been working since April to produce the draft policy.
Mahfuzul Haque, who is also a member of the committee, told the Dhaka Tribune that after the draft is finalised, it will be discussed at different levels of government before being placed before Cabinet by June next year.
About 108,000 hectares of land in Bangladesh was used for tobacco farming in 2014, compared with 70,000 hectares the previous year, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension.
That means an additional 38,000 hectares of land went over to cultivating the cash crop in just one year, a 54% increase.
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data, some 30,699.45 hectares of land was devoted to tobacco farming in FY2006-07 with production standing at 39,180 metric tonnes. In FY2010-11, the corresponding figures were 48,867.41 hectares and 79,234 metric tonnes, respectively.
The rapid expansion of the lethal cash crop undermines food security, and contributes to the deterioration of public health, forest resources, ecology, the environment and land fertility.
Mahfuzul Haque said the draft policy will attempt to curb both the supply and demand of tobacco.
