From: barnhart@netcom.com (Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:KENYA: FARMERS OPT FOR TOBACCO AFTE
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 22:56:39 GMT
Organization: Netcom
Reply-To: barnhart@netcom.com

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Reference: Commodities; Agriculture; Science & Industry
Title: KENYA: FARMERS OPT FOR TOBACCO AFTER COFFEE PRICES SLUMP


an inter press service feature

by pamphil h. kweyuh

angoromo, kenya, aug 15 (ips) -- regardless of the law that
protects the coffee shrub on kenyan plantations, farmers in the
east african country have lost interest in the industry.

formerly the country's leading export crop coffee, has
within the past decade fallen behind tea and tourism. the odds
are that it will soon be overtaken by horticulture, a promising
industry on the kenyan economic ladder.

underlining the importance of coffee to the kenyan economy,
government maintains in its statute-book a law that stipulates
punishment for a person who uproots a coffee shrub without
permission of the minister for agriculture.

but the slump in world market prices for coffee since the
collapse of the international coffee agreement in 1989 has
switched kenyan farmers' attention to other commodities.

in kenya's western province the fall of the coffee industry
has hit small business enterprises which had opened up
employment opportunities for the landless rural residents.

''during the coffee boom, bars at angoromo trade centre (10
km away from busia town on the kenya-uganda border) operated 24
hours a day the whole year'', recalls a local resident, peter
achiya.

''shopkeepers here made brisk business. five cows and up to
20 goats were slaughtered, roasted and consumed daily in this
place because people had money from coffee'', he told ips.

out of about 50 buildings that once served as shops,
restaurants, bars and small business premises, only a handful
still operate. the people's purchasing power has slumped and
business people have moved out to greener pastures.

in neighbouring bungoma district, the once impressive coffee
farms in malakisi division have been neglected. farmers cannot
make better use of the land because of the ban on pulling up
the unproductive coffee trees.

however, farmers who had extra land have switched to tobacco.
in 1991 the crop generated 90 million dollars in tax revenue to
government. exports brought in five million dollars. (more/ips)


kenya: farmers (2)

although traditional coffee growers have taken it as an
alternative cash crop, tobacco is not a new industry in kenya.
about 20,000 farmers are producers, according to the ministry
of agriculture.

despite the worldwide campaign to make people aware of health
hazards caused by smoking, kenya's minister of agriculture,
elijah mwangale, says the industry should ''never be allowed to
die''.

the minister has instructed provincial commissioners in
charge of the country's four tobacco growing provinces to see to
it that the crop flourishes.

the average price for tobacco on the international market
increased from 1.78 dollars per pound (about half a kilo) in
1990 to 1.85 dollars in 1991. prospects of prices increasing
even further look bright as the world's major supplier of
tobacco, brazil, has been hit by bad weather.

''no effort should be spared in ensuring discipline in the
industry and the growing and marketing guidelines for tobacco
must strictly be adhered to'', mwangale told the provincial
commissioners.

besides the export market, domestic sales of tobacco to local
cigarette manufacturers are on the rise, according to industry
sources. kenyan smokers, lured by slick commercials for new
brands, remains a growing market.

but what government gains from the crop is wiped out by the
national health bill, according to a kenyan tobacco expert.

''for every shilling they (government) get, they are spending
two on top to mop up ill health arising from smoking'', says dr
paul wangai.

up to 3,000 kenyans die of cancer annually with cases of
throat and lung cancer accounting for over half of the deaths.

anti-smoking campaigners in kenya accuse the government of
double standards. ''on one side they ban smoking in public
places while on the other they encourage the industry'', says
wangai.

''the government has failed to come out with a detailed code
of conduct to discourage smoking. the ban must be enforced as
passive smokers stand high chances of contracting asthma,
pneumonia and other respiratory diseases'', he adds.
(end/ips/phk/ar/92)



-- 
Aaron (Barnhart@netcom.com) -- posting from Evanston, Illinois