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Tobacco, a threat to development
According to the Tobacco Atlas, Indonesia’s smoking population exceeds 56 million, including 2.6 million children.
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A worker sifts chopped tobacco leaves at the Rizona Baru cigar factory in Temanggung, Central Java. The factory was built in 1910 by Oo Tjong Han, a Chinese immigrant who lived in Temanggung. Every day the factory can produce 3,000 cigars, which are manually crafted by the skilled hands of the workers, who are mostly women. (JP/Agung Parameswara)
W
hile in elementary school, my long vacation would be a onemonth stay at my grandfather’s house in a village in Central Java known for its tobacco farms. My chain-smoking grandfather used to tell me about himself and other villagers who could make a living on growing tobacco plants.
Ten years ago, he died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), a lung disease associated with smoking.
Many Indonesian tobacco farmers, like my grandfather, simply are not aware of the long-term health hazards of tobacco use. They only know that tobacco is profitable. Sadly, the government shares such ignorance. The threat looks to be the tip of an iceberg.
This year’s World No Tobacco Day highlights tobacco as a threat for development, which is relevant for Indonesia. As a developing country, Indonesia is a huge market for tobacco products.
According to the Tobacco Atlas, Indonesia’s smoking population exceeds 56 million, including 2.6 million children. According to the World Health Organization, 6 million people die from tobacco use every year, a figure that is predicted to increase to more than 8 million by 2030 without intensified action to prevent it.
This decade, Indonesia has a stronger demographic advantage than other countries simply because it has more people in their productive ages, but this bonus is meaningless if their productivity is very low because of the effects of smoking.
For ages Indonesia has been known as one of the world’s biggest tobacco producers. Tobacco giants in the country produce 336 billion cigarettes per year. By 2020, the production is expected to increase to 520 billion cigarettes per annum.
