Tobacco firms incentivising deforestation

Deforestation and tobacco cultivation in the country’s hill districts go hand in hand as hills are deforested to collect firewood to cure leaves and provide wider acreage for tobacco farming.

A study named “Tobacco and Poverty: Observations from India and Bangladesh” conducted by PATH Canada suggests that tobacco growing is a significant cause of deforestation in Bangladesh, accounting for over 30% of annual deforestation, putting the country third internationally in terms of the severity of the problem, after South Korea 45 % and Uruguay 40%.

Forest department officials blamed the aggressive incentivisation of tobacco cultivation in the country’s hill districts especially at Bandarban as a major cause of deforestation.

According to the Bandarban district Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), tobacco cultivation has increased 5 or 6 times in the last 10 years as farmers are drawn to comparatively high profits.

Bandarban agricultural extension officials, on condition of anonymity, said the rate of expansion of tobacco cultivation in the hill district has been high.

According to DAE statistics, farmers produce 70 bales [1 bale equals 40kgs] of tobacco leaves per hectare of land.

DAE figures show that currently 15,000 hectares of land are under tobacco cultivation.

This works out to approximately 1,050,000 bales of tobacco produced in the hill districts annually.

Some 60,000 tonnes of firewood is required for 1,050,000 bales of tobacco leaves annually.

“All of this firewood comes from the nearby forests, including protected forests,” said Hafizul Islam, a Tondul owner of Ali Kodom upazila.

Rafiqul Islam Chowdhury, divisional forest officer of Lama upazila, told the Dhaka Tribune that the forest coverage of the district was diminishing each day to meet the firewood demand of the tobacco trade.

The source of the required firewood is the forest, which is under district authority. He said protected forests were also being sourced illegally for firewood.

Rafiqul said the forest office is working to reduce tobacco cultivation from this year in consultation with farmers and the local administration to halt the rapid rate of deforestation.

Tobacco companies provide all sorts of agricultural input, including fertilizer, seeds, pesticides and cash, in advance, to farmers on condition of cultivating tobacco on their land, he said.

The tobacco companies, moreover, offer to buy up their production in advance at a high rate.

He said company agents give farmers tips about successful tobacco cultivation at different times during the cultivation process.

British-American Tobacco (BAT), Dhaka Tobacco and Akij Tobacco are the major growers of tobacco leaf in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

BAT is the largest grower and offers the largest incentives to farmers to cultivate tobacco, thus contributing most to deforesting the hill tracts.

But the company has launched a reforestation programme and is distributing saplings to local people to improve the forest coverage in the region.

Rafiqul told the Dhaka Tribune that the current reforestation effort is insufficient to protect the forest.

He said he has met with stakeholders, including tobacco companies, to advocate the reduction of tobacco cultivation to save the forests.

Source: Dhakatribune,published: November 22, 2014