Tobacco farmers switch to sustainable crops in Brazil

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In front of the bountiful table - with rice, beans, meat, corn, cassava, sweet potatoes, cabbage, and cucumbers - Álvaro Luettjohann smiles: "Everything we are about to eat is organic and produced here." Álvaro and his wife, Adriana, live in Candelária, a small town in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Going to their farm feels like walking into an oasis in a neighborhood normally marked by tobacco growing and the use of pesticides.

Brazil is the largest exporter and third largest producer of tobacco in the world, but tobacco farming is a problem globally with over 120 countries growing tobacco. In Brazil, tobacco crops are highly concentrated in the three southern states, one of which is Rio Grande do Sul, where Álvaro and Adriana live, which hosts more than 50,000 tobacco farms.

Álvaro and Adriane know the tireless work of a tobacco farmer since their families have grown this crop for generations. Studies show that tobacco farming is a much more labor-intensive endeavor compared to other crops. Beyond that, tobacco farmers and their families face various health risks throughout the process, including chronic lung conditions and nicotine poisoning caused by the absorption of nicotine through the skin when workers handle uncured tobacco leaves.

Álvaro feeding the chickens.  Credit: Raquel Torres / Fiocruz-CETAB's Collection

For many of these reasons, the couple abandoned this activity decades ago: Álvaro stopped growing tobacco in the late 1980s, and Adriane did it when she married him in the mid-1990s. Instead of tobacco, they are now growing more sustainable food crops and in 2004, they completely eliminated the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

Today, they have an organic certification, preserve Creole seeds, and grow nearly all the food they need: rice, seven types of maize and 10 types of beans, peanuts, potatoes, several types of sweet potatoes, cassava, vegetables, chia, sesame, mate and various fruits. The couple also raise animals for milk, eggs, and meat, and have a mill for the production of cornmeal. 

Farming families like theirs are helping to turn the tide on food insecurity and improve our environment as well as save lives from the deadly impact of tobacco.

 Álvaro says he grew up under the discourse of the tobacco industry, hearing that tobacco growing was the region's true vocation and that it was not worth growing other crops. "But my father never believed that and, although we grew tobacco, he managed to have a diversified farm - and there were some periods when we put tobacco aside. He always said that 'you cannot eat tobacco, so you need to grow food'" Álvaro recalls. However, according to him, his family was persuaded that pesticides and chemical fertilizers were necessary to increase productivity. "But the great productivity we were promised never came, and on top of that our soil became impoverished."

After Álvaro and Adriane started their organic production, it took a few years for them to make the soil healthy again, but now they have well-nourished land with organic bio-products.

The couple emphasizes that government policies were essential for them to succeed as to stop growing tobacco and become organic farmers. They accessed credit programs to purchase machinery and even to build their house on the farm.

The couple doesn't have any intention of growing tobacco ever again. "We always talk to friends and family members who still grow tobacco for a living, and we try to show that it is possible to have other sources of income", says Adriane, who is the only one who has abandoned tobacco in a family of 10 siblings. 

 If governments stopped subsidizing tobacco farming and supported farmers to switch to more sustainable crops it would help address the global food crisis and support healthier communities.

Note for the editor: This story was supported by WHO FCTC Knowledge Hub for Articles 17 and 18 / CETAB / Fiocruz.