map showing main tobacco growing countries in Africa and Asia, their area under tobacco cultivation, the proportion of population under risk of food insecurity, and number of people who could be fed if food was grown instead of tobacco. Text under map: Tobacco Growing or Food More than 17 million people around the world work in tobacco farming, primarily in low- and middle-income countries such as Brazil, Indonesia or Zimbabwe. Farmers in these countries struggle to make a living from tobacco growing. Their income is often so low that there is no money left to pay any workers and child labour is widespread. In some countries, tobacco growing contributes to food insecurity. When fields are planted with tobacco, they can no longer be used to grow food. In tobacco growing countries such as Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania, significant proportions of the population are at risk of food insecurity. Seven of the ten countries with the largest area under cultivation are in Asia and Africa. If food was grown in these countries instead of tobacco, more than 11 million people could be fed. map and text from Unfairtobacco
So sad that #Malawi is still depending so much on #tobacco exports to earn forex for debts.
#DebtRelief & #ExitTobacco
growing #FoodNotTobacco should be part of the solution, supporting smallholder farmers on household level
