Tobacco farmers join forces to fight cancer, grow alternative crops in Hunsur

Mysuru: More than 1.3 million people die of tobacco use every year in India and a majority of them are afflicted with cancer. The country, which is the second largest consumer of tobacco in the world, accounts for almost half of all oral cancers and the highest burden of tuberculosis globally.

The 2022 Tobacco Atlas released last week says currently there are 1.1 billion cigarette smokers in the world and an additional 200 million who are addicted to other tobacco products. Not surprisingly, smoking will kill 8 million

people each year globally by 2030. Yet tobacco remains to be the single most widely available addictive substance, and can be easily purchased anywhere. India is also the third largest producer of tobacco in the world, with Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and UP accounting for almost 80% of the total production.

In this direction, phased reduction in tobacco farming and helping farmers shift to a safer and economically viable alternative crop can prove to be a game changer in prevention and control of tobacco use.

In this endeavour, Antardhwani, HCG's independent think tank, has launched the country's first-of-its-kind alternative farming project in Karnataka's Hunsur region, the State's tobacco growing hub. The project involves 50 tobacco farmers, who are primarily growing sandalwood besides other seasonal fruits in one acre of their respective agricultural land, putting the project size to a total of 50 acres in the first phase.

More than 15,000 high grade saplings of sandalwood and over 8,000 saplings of lucrative seasonal fruits have already been supplied to the farmers free of cost. It has joined forces with agronomists, ecologists, medical practitioners and other relevant experts to guide decision-making at every

step of the process. Tobacco growers in Karnataka have been unable to do so in the absence of an economically viable alternative plan. There has long been the need to identify crops which can be grown instead of tobacco in regions of different climatic and soil conditions, assure market guarantee of the produce, at the same time sensitize the farmers about the ill effects of growing tobacco on health and environment (deforestation) – a fact which they are largely unaware of. The project involves growers of FCV (Flue Cured Virginia) tobacco used for cigarettes, which is highly remunerative, has international market & institutional support, and is backed by the tobacco industry.

"We all got into oncology to save lives and cure people of this

disease and not for business. That's why HCG has over 25 state-of-the-art cancer hospitals in the country and abroad. Now, it's time to eliminate the root cause of cancer –tobacco. That's when we doctors will actually realise our dream of saving as many lives as possible," said Dr Ajaikumar, Executive Chairman, HCG.