Growing tobacco is also a thing of the past: “Now I work less and earn more.”

Sprina Robi Chacha grew up surrounded by tobacco . It's the main crop in Migori County, southwest Kenya, and her parents were hooked on the small income it generated, the only income they had to get by. She started working in the fields at age 15, after graduating from high school: "I knew it's a harmful crop, requiring a lot of labor. When I inherited the land, I continued farming, often having to help me and skipping school. It's very sad, but I didn't see any other alternative to earn a living and feed my family."

Everything changed four years ago. A group of officials from the Kenyan government and the World Health Organization (WHO) visited their region and explained that there were other, more productive, less labor-intensive crops that could bring them more benefits. “At first, they gave us bean seeds high in iron [a variety achieved through conventional plant breeding techniques, crossing and selecting plants with naturally high levels of this element], and now we also grow corn, cassava, and sorghum…” Sprina explains in Dublin, where the Global Conference on Tobacco Control was held at the end of June, which EL PAÍS attended at the invitation of the NGO Vital Strategies.

She decided to take the plunge and completely change her livelihood in 2022. Since then, Sprina says she's been working less and earning more money. "Tobacco took up a lot of my time, taking it away from other tasks. And it's a slow crop, which can take almost a year. Then it would take us four to six months to get paid, with no other source of income, which was a big challenge for covering my children's needs," she explains. She has six children, and she's 40 years old.

The WHO's crop shifting program , in collaboration with the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has successfully transitioned 9,000 Kenyan farmers from tobacco farming to more profitable and healthier crops. Vinayak Prasad of the WHO's tobacco control program explains that it makes no sense for food-insecure countries, where many people are unsure of what they will eat every day, to dedicate land to tobacco instead of food crops.

Tobacco farmers are mired in a cycle of poverty.

Vinayak Prasad, WHO Tobacco Control Programme Worker

“Farmers who grow tobacco are trapped in a cycle of poverty,” says Prasad, who argues that while gross income from this crop is almost three times that of beans, net income is more than six times higher for the latter, and more than three times higher per season. “Furthermore, they don't have the detrimental effects of tobacco, which degrades the soil and requires more tree felling to dry the leaves,” he adds.

With these arguments, Sprina has become an ambassador for crop change. She holds meetings with local farmers, and more and more are joining in. “At first, they're hesitant, but I tell them about my own experience, how I've seen the changes, the increased income, and how the fields remain more fertile and the environment is less affected by growing food,” she says.

One of the pillars of success has been community empowerment, especially that of women. “Of the 9,000 farmers, 60% are women. They were the first to adopt and experiment, and that has been very positive,” Prasad emphasizes.

However, more than half a million hectares in 15 African countries are used for tobacco cultivation, which is responsible for eight million deaths worldwide each year. In Kenya, some 36,000 farmers cultivate tobacco leaf on approximately 6,000 hectares, mainly in the west of the country and especially in Migori County.

The WHO now aims to consolidate the program in more African countries and expand it to Asia, home to some of the world's largest tobacco producers, such as India and China. "We want to demonstrate that this is not just an isolated case, but a model that can be replicated in four or five countries," says Prasad. The initiative has already received the UN Pulse Award for its innovation and is presented as a concrete way to reduce tobacco dependence in vulnerable regions while simultaneously improving health, income, and food security.