Philip Morris USA purchases some of the tobacco for our products from the south African country of Malawi. Agriculture plays a major role in Malawi’s economy and their tobacco crop represents 53 percent of their export commodities according to the 2010 World Factbook.
In addition to high levels of poverty and low life expectancy, Malawi faces problems that directly threaten food security and short-term agricultural sustainability of natural resources. Tobacco cultivation is closely connected to these problems and there is no simple solution. Malawians have traditionally cut down an average of 14 million trees annually to support the country's tobacco industry, according to Washington State University. The traditional growing and harvesting of trees for the wood needed to cure, fence and store tobacco leaves contribute to massive deforestation, which plays a role in soil erosion and reduced tobacco yields.
As a result, for several years we have worked with others to address some of these issues in a holistic way to help Malawi sustain a strong agricultural export business, including tobacco, and to improve conditions for Malawians.
In 2001, PM USA began working with Washington State University through the Agroforestry Partnership Project (APP) to help address Malawi’s deforestation problems. In 2006, PM USA began funding a new project called Sustainable Rural Enterprise and Livelihoods (SURELIVES), implemented by Washington State University and
Total Land Care. Today, our parent company Altria Group continues to support this project through its funding ofÂ
sustainable agriculture programs.
SURELIVES objectives include:
- Improving the food security, nutrition, health and general well being of rural communities.
- Assisting farm households in making the transition from subsistence survival to a self-sufficient market based farm enterprise.
SURELIVES activities are focused on community empowerment and sound environmental stewardship. To date, the program has reached more than 500 villages and 23,000 villagers, 35 percent of which are women. The program has achieved a variety of outcomes which include enhancing the capability of farming families to meet their basic needs; increase their crop quality and diversity; and adopt environmentally sound production practices.
Key results to date according to the SURELIVES 2009 annual report include:
- In 2009, 1.7 million tree seedlings were raised in 479 nurseries by about 23,000 households. Between 2006 and 2009, over 5 million trees have been planted under SURELIVES. Families who planted trees when the program first began now benefit from those trees through income, firewood, construction materials for homes and tobacco curing shelters.
- In 2009, 1,255 households in 61 villages were using kitchen stoves, which are more fuel efficient than conventional systems.
- New irrigation systems serve nearly 1,700 households for improved agricultural production.
- A total of 21 shallow wells have been installed impacting nearly 1,500 households.
