very year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) observes May 31 as World No Tobacco Day. The theme for the year 2023 is: “We need food, not tobacco”. The global food supply outlook presents a disturbingly dark outlook. The Covid-19 pandemic was closely followed by other world shocks, such as the Russo-Ukraine war, shortage of fertilisers, supply chain bottlenecks and climate change catastrophes.

These shocks have worsened the already dwindling and fractured global food-supply chain. The UN has gone a step ahead and called this “the greatest cost of living crisis in a generation.” The food shortage crisis cannot be ignored by the global leadership, as this is likely to have direct social and political implications as well.

The UN Sustainable Development Goal SDG–2 focuses on ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. According to an Economist report, the world is not only struggling to keep up with this SDG but rather losing ground.

The number of hungry around the world has doubled after Covid-19 and more than 8 million people sleep hungry at night. More than 25 million tonnes of wheat and corn were trapped in Ukraine due to war, effectively stalling exports to many countries around the world, including Pakistan.

Despite claiming to be an agricultural country, Pakistan’s food security situation continues to present a dismal picture. Out of its more than 230 million people (the 2022-23 census shows the population to be 249.5 million and growing), more than 20 percent are undernourished. A whopping 44 percent of the children under the age of 5 years are stunted.

It would be pertinent to note that these estimates date prior to the current political unrest in the country, which has forced an unknown number into poverty and hunger.

Between August 2022 and March 2023, the World Food Programme (WFP) provided 77,445 metric tonnes of food supplies to more than 3.4 million flood-affected people in Balochistan, the KP and the Punjab. Additionally, those affected by the flood were supported with $21 million. Such organisations also face funding shortages, and more than half a million Pakistanis will likely not receive this support.

The current political and social unrest in the country is likely to worsen the ongoing food crisis and more than 1 million Pakistanis are likely to have slid from the Integrated Food Security Phase (Phase-3 crisis) to Phase-4 (emergency) between September 2022 and March 2023.

About 50,000 hectares were under tobacco cultivation in 2013-14, producing more than 129 million kg tobacco. In 2021-22, almost 35,000 hectares were producing more than 108 million kg tobacco. Notably, the land used for tobacco cultivation becomes unusable for any other crop due to excessive pesticides and chemicals used for getting a bumper tobacco yield.

Despite claiming to be an agricultural country, Pakistan’s food security situation continues to present a dismal picture. Out of its more than 230 million people (the 2022-23 census shows the population to be 249.5 million and growing), more than 20 percent are undernourished.

Besides the land loss, the environmental damage and the climatic carnage caused by tobacco during its life cycle are seriously disturbing. For the production of one cigarette 3.7 liters of water is depleted, 14 grams of CO₂ is added to the environment and 3.5 gallons of fossil fuel is consumed. The number of tobacco sticks produced in Pakistan by the tobacco industry is almost 60 billion per year. That simplifies the calculation of total damage caused by tobacco products.

The aftereffects of tobacco (produced at the cost of edible and other cash crops) are also serious. Tobacco use causes 12 types of cancers in humans. In Pakistan, an estimated Rs 615 billion is spent on healthcare costs to handle tobacco users. Yet, there has been an enormous hue and cry from the tobacco industry after the recent raise in taxes on tobacco products.

The tobacco industry was expected to react to the implementation of the Tobacco Track and Trace System in July 2022. This system obliged the tobacco industry to purchase tax stamps to be placed on every pack of cigarettes. The tobacco industry saved on taxes through “frontloading” or flooding the market with over-production. Additional taxes imposed on the tobacco industry are perfectly in line with the global best practices and the guideline provided by the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), to which Pakistan has been a signatory since 2005.

Another aspect of the problem is illegal/ illicit tobacco products. Multiple studies have shown that the market share of illicit tobacco products is less than 16 percent, the industry places the figures at 45 percent. There is no doubt that illicit/ illegal cigarettes cause a direct loss to the national exchequer. However, a significant question is: should the focus be on preventing illicit/ illegal tobacco products, or should we reduce taxes on a harmful product?

The tobacco industry’s demand for a reduction in taxes is, therefore, completely unfounded. Taxes should continue to be raised because this is one of the most effective and scientifically proven methods to cause quitting and prevent initiation.

Inland Revenue Enforcement Network (IREN) claims to have made it more difficult for counterfeiters to produce and distribute counterfeit products in Pakistan. IREN has also reported more than 150 cases of local manufacturers producing illicit/ illegal tobacco products.

Finally, there has been a threat from the tobacco industry to shut down production units across Pakistan. Less than 1 percent of the workforce is currently employed by the tobacco industry. Production and sometimes over-production continue between September to June. After the budget, almost all units are shut down for maintenance and cleaning up. Production resumes after routine maintenance. Additionally, the domestic production of nicotine pouches and its robust marketing has attracted a new generation of addicts.

The regulation of Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) has also given an enormous boost to the industry. In the garb of HTPs, all kinds of electronic devices are being imported and sold without vendors’ licences and health hazard information to the consumers.

It is ironic that while the world looks towards the food supply chain with dwindling hopes, tobacco continues to prosper and make profits off the poorest people.

Syed Ali Wasif Naqvi heads the Centre for Health Policy and Innovation at the SDPI.

Syeda Aneeqa Hassan is a food safety officer at Punjab Food Authority (Rawalpindi).

The authors can be reached at wasif@sdpi.org