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Tobacco industry talks up investment in agriculture
BEIJING—China’s tobacco
industry has invested between 50 and 65 billion yuan in helping tobacco
farmers over the 21 years from 1985 to 2006, according to the State
Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA), but health experts argue the
figure is far from sufficient.
Since 1985, the tobacco industry has invested between two billion and
seven billion yuan each year in agriculture to help lift farmers out of
poverty, an STMA report claimed. The report pointed to the 2.67 billion
yuan channeled by the Yunnan Provincial Tobacco Monopoly Bureau into
local irrigation systems for tobacco farmers.
It also cited Xu Xueliang, a tobacco farmer in Luliang county, more than
100 km east of Yunnan’s capital Kunming, as saying, “In the past, we had
to fetch water from a place five km away using an ox and cart. It’s much
more convenient now as we can get water from the tap right in the middle
of the farmland.” The report did not impress health professionals such
as Zhi Xiuyi, director of the Tobacco Control and Lung Cancer Department
in the Cancer Foundation of China.
“The STMA stated this year that the daily tax revenue of the tobacco
industry was nearly 800 million yuan, excluding imported cigarettes.
Thus the investment is only a small part of the huge profits made by the
tobacco industry. The STMA should not be proud of it,” Zhi said. “The
government should invest more money accrued from the tobacco tax in the
public health system and medical research,” he added.
The STMA report said that local branches of the STMA and tobacco
companies had helped improve farmers’ planting technologies, including
demonstrating how to pick and roast tobacco leaves. In Guizhou and Hubei
provinces, a disaster-relief fund has been set up for tobacco farmers
affected by natural disasters. “I think the research is no more than
propaganda from the tobacco industry but the investment is beneficial
for tobacco farmers at least,” said Sun Zhenbo, a 42-year-old smoker.
According to official figures, China has more than 350 million smokers,
the largest in the world. “About one million people die of diseases
associated with smoking each year in China,”.—Xinhua |
