Tobacco.org

LETTER: Tobacco growers, watch the effects 

IN the light of the recent UN summit on climate, I wish to draw attention to the damaging environmental impact of tobacco growing, especially in West Nile, the north, Bunyoro and south western regions of Uganda.

Thousand of acres of woodlots have been felled for flu cure tobacco production in Arua, Koboko, Yumbe Gulu and Lira districts. The responsible companies give farmers seedlings, supposedly to replant chopped forests, yet no attention is paid to the long maturation period.

As a result, the land is bare, forests that would otherwise filter carbon emissions and buffer arable land from erosion by storm water are removed and the climate in the tobacco-growing districts worsens with each passing year.

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