Department of Economics, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Dec 17;17(24):9447. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17249447.
The extent of tobacco cultivation remains substantially high in Bangladesh, which is the 12th largest tobacco producer in the world. Using data from a household survey of current, former, and never tobacco farmers, based on a multi-stage stratified sampling design with a mix of purposive and random sampling of households, this study estimated the financial and economic profitability per acre of land used for tobacco cultivation. The environmental effects of tobacco cultivation on land and water resources were estimated using laboratory tests of sample water and soil collected from tobacco-cultivating and non-tobacco cultivating areas. The study finds that tobacco cultivation turns into a losing concern when the opportunity costs of unpaid family labour and other owned resources, and the health effects of tobacco cultivation are included. Tobacco cultivation poses a significantly high environmental cost that causes a net loss to society. Nevertheless, the availability of unpaid family labour and the options of advanced credit as well as a buy back guarantee from the tobacco companies attract farmers to engage in and continue tobacco cultivation. Therefore, supply side interventions to curb the tobacco epidemic in Bangladesh need to address major drivers of tobacco cultivation to correct the wrong incentives and motivate tobacco farmers to switch to alternative livelihood options.
孟加拉国的烟草种植规模仍然很大，是世界上第十二大烟草生产国。本研究采用基于多阶段分层抽样设计的当前、以前和从未种植烟草的农民的家庭调查数据，其中混合使用了有目的和随机抽样的家庭，估计了每英亩用于烟草种植的土地的财务和经济盈利能力。通过对从烟草种植区和非烟草种植区采集的水样和土壤进行实验室测试，估算了烟草种植对土地和水资源的环境影响。研究发现，当包括无酬家庭劳动和其他自有资源的机会成本以及烟草种植的健康影响时，烟草种植就变成了一个亏损的产业。烟草种植造成了很高的环境成本，给社会带来了净损失。然而，无酬家庭劳动的可用性以及先进信贷的选择，以及烟草公司的回购保证，吸引农民从事和继续烟草种植。因此，遏制孟加拉国烟草流行的供应方干预措施需要解决烟草种植的主要驱动因素，以纠正错误的激励措施，并促使烟草农民转向替代生计选择。
