ArticleTobacco control2019
Costs, contracts and the narrative of prosperity: an economic analysis of smallholder tobacco farming livelihoods in Kenya.
Article in Tobacco control, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed.
- Engineered CAR-NKT Extracellular Vesicles Suppress Tumor Progression and Enhance Antitumor Immunity.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- The end of the garden path? Analyzing smallholder tobacco farming income and decision-making in Mozambique.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- The impacts on the economy, health, and environment resulting from tobacco cultivation: A cross-sectional survey of tobacco farmer perspectives in Thailand.Tobacco induced diseases · 2025Article
- The political economy of tobacco of Zimbabwe: An analysis of stakeholder perspectives.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Assessing the Level of Poverty and Utilization of Government Social Programs Among Tobacco Farmers in Indonesia.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2024Article
- Tobacco policy (in)coherence in Mozambique: an examination of national and subnational stakeholder perspectives.Health policy and planning · 2024Article
- Does contract farming arrangement improve smallholder tobacco productivity? Evidence from Zimbabwe.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Perspectives of push-pull-mooring effects on a desire for switching to alternative crops among tobacco farmers in Thailand: A qualitative study.Tobacco induced diseases · 2024Article
- Article
- Research on farmers' adoption of additional technology combinations: Practice from Chongqing, China.PloS one · 2023Article
- Exploring the Political Economy Nexus of Tobacco Production and Control: A Case Study from Zambia.Critical public health · 2023Article
- Tobacco farming and current debt status among smallholder farmers in Manicaland province in Zimbabwe.Tobacco control · 2021Article
- Tobacco or not tobacco: predicting farming households' income in Indonesia.Tobacco control · 2021Article
- Implications for farmers of measures to reduce sugars consumption.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2021Article
- How does tobacco growing impact advancement in demand reduction measures?Tobacco prevention & cessation · 2021Article
- The political economy of sugar-sweetened beverage taxation: an analysis from seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa.Global health action · 2021Article
- In-and-Out of Tobacco Farming: Shifting Behavior of Tobacco Farmers in Indonesia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Explaining Why Farmers Grow Tobacco: Evidence From Malawi, Kenya, and Zambia.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2020Article
- Intersectoral policy on industries that produce unhealthy commodities: governing in a new era of the global economy?BMJ global health · 2020Review
- Factors Associated with Cultivation of Tobacco in Bangladesh: A Multilevel Modelling Approach.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe tobacco industry has used the alleged negative impacts on economic livelihoods for tobacco farmers as a narrative to oppose tobacco control measures in low/middle-income countries. However, rigorous empirical evidence to support or refute this claim remains scarce. Accordingly, we assess how much money households earn from selling tobacco, and the costs they incur to produce the crop, including labour inputs. We also evaluate farmers' decision to operate under contract directly with tobacco manufacturers and tobacco leaf-buying companies or to operate as independent farmers.
methodsA stratified random sampling method was used to implement a nationally representative household-level economic survey of 585 farmers across the three main tobacco growing regions in Kenya. The survey was augmented with focus group discussions in all three regions to refine and enrich the context of the findings.
resultsBoth contract and independent farmers experience small profit margins per acre, with contract farmers operating at a loss. Even when family labour is excluded from the calculation, income levels remain low, particularly considering the typically large households. Generally, tobacco farmers enter into contracts with tobacco companies because they have a 'guaranteed' buyer for their tobacco leaf and receive the necessary agricultural inputs (fertiliser, seeds, herbicides and so on) without paying cash up-front.
conclusionsTobacco farming households enter into contract with tobacco companies to realise perceived economic benefits. The narrative that tobacco farming is a lucrative economic undertaking for smallholder farmers, however, is inaccurate in the context of Kenya.
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