By Duncan Mboyah
A move by Kenyan farmers to drop tobacco farming for alternative crops is yielding fruits.
Benard Imoh, a farmer in Otubokin in Busia western Kenya who received two kilograms of the high-iron beans, known as ‘Nyota’ beans in 2022 after switching from tobacco farming, is already seeing good progress.
Imoh says that the proceeds from the growing of the high-iron beans have changed his life and he does not regret switching.
“I bought a bull in 2023 after dropping tobacco farming for the high-yielding beans, something I am elated about,” Imoh tells Science Africa.
Imoh, 56, adds that he had grown tobacco for six years but was unable to count the benefits from it apart from feeding his family.
He says that besides buying a bull, he now has a stable income that enables him to pay his children’s college fees. He is also able to provide food for his family daily unlike before.
Unlike tobacco which he would grow once, he now grows the high-yielding beans variety thrice annually.
Before venturing into tobacco growing in 2015, he used to grow cotton. But the pay was not well.
“I am not regretting abandoning tobacco for ‘Nyota’ beans. It is one decision that I have never regretted because I have seen success after success, in my life and that of my family,” he adds.
Imoh started by growing beans on a one-acre piece of land but has since expanded to growing on three acres.
Imoh and other farmers in Busia were trained, under the Tobacco-Free Farms initiative, a project led by the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) to provide tobacco farmers with sustainable, profitable alternatives by encouraging them to grow high-iron beans and other nutritious crops.
Gerald Eroto of Ataba village in Busia stopped growing tobacco seven years ago and has been concentrating on growing beans and trees on his four-acre farm.
Eroto observes that the two ventures have remained the cornerstone of his children’s education. For the first time, he pays school fees with ease.
“I pay fees using money from the high-yielding beans that I sometimes deliver to schools where my children learn. It has also enabled me to pay college fees for my son who is a student at a university in Embu, Eastern Kenya,” he adds.
Eroto notes that when he was growing tobacco, he couldn’t also plant trees. Today, he has several trees and often sells others due to demand.
For Lawi Mamai, 65, besides selling the beans, they are a source of food for his family of five children. “For the first time since I switched to growing beans, I have enough food in my home and my family are happy. My neighbors too are happy and eat good food,” Mamai says.
Lilian Apale, 45, is a long-time tobacco farmer from Angurai. She switched to growing beans after delivering a sickling child that later died.
According to Apale, she gave much attention to tobacco while pregnant only to deliver a sickling child that forced her to stay in hospitals for months before the child died.
“My infant child was unable to sit down or walk despite attaining the sitting and walking age,” she reveals.
According to Anne Kendagor from the Ministry of Health, farmers growing the bean variety have a ready market that ranges from the WFP, boarding schools and prisons.
She said that tobacco consumption is the leading cause of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, and hypertension in the country.
Kendagor says that the project is also aimed at reducing exposure to toxic chemicals used in tobacco farming, such as pesticides and nicotine, which pose significant health risks to farmers and their families.
Transitioning to food crops also means less direct contact with harmful substances, leading to improved respiratory and skin health.
Dr. Joyce Nato, Joyce Nato, Technical Officer, Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases, WHO, Kenya Country Office says that the initiative addresses not only the health risks of tobacco but also the environmental damage caused by tobacco farming.
Dr. Nato observed that the project that was initially piloted in Migori County in western Kenya, has since been expanded to Busia and Bungoma in western Kenya and Meru in eastern Kenya, the other tobacco growing regions.
She reveals that since the launch of the project, 6,618 farmers have switched from tobacco growing to the high yielding beans and other alternative food crops.
Dr. Nato observes that tobacco cultivation depletes soil fertility, encourages deforestation, and leaves the land vulnerable to degradation due to excessive pesticide use and monocropping.
She says that since 2021, 5,615 acres of land have been converted from tobacco farming to the cultivation of food crops amounting to 1,348,500 kilograms of Nyota beans harvested.
“The income boost has had a profound impact on communities, enabling farmers to pay school fees for their children, access better healthcare, and invest in their future,’ Dr. Nato adds.
The official further adds that the cultivation of high-iron beans contributes to enhanced nutrition and food security, combating malnutrition and anemia, particularly in children and women.
She reveals that partnerships with the WFP and other agencies and institutions have created secure markets for alternative crops, ensuring that farmers benefit from stable incomes.
The UN official says that by providing viable alternatives to tobacco, the initiative addresses not only health issues but also contributes to poverty reduction, food security, and environmental sustainability.
She reveals that the WHO is currently negotiating with a financial institution that will advance loans to farmers, adding that farmers will be charged one percent interest depending on the loan they will secure from the financing institution.
She says that the loans are expected to empower farmers to increase the acreage of beans and other crops.
Florence Egusa, Deputy Director of Agriculture in Busia County says that the reduction in exposure to toxic pesticides has also led to better family health and reduced the need for child labor on farms.
Egusa notes that besides the economic and health benefits, the project has helped promote women’s empowerment, with many of them becoming financially independent through the cultivation of high-iron beans.
The initiative is also supported by Kenya and the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).
