Tobacco farmers to protest in Madrid

UPA-UCE and Asaja, together with Agro-Food Cooperatives and the Interprofessional Tobacco Organization (OITAB), will hold a mobilisation in front of the Ministry of Agriculture today, in an attempt to save tobacco cultivation in the Extremadura region after the ban on dichloropropene and the implementation of generic packaging included in the Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention and Control of Smoking.

The convening parties stressed in a press conference that “more than 20,000 Extremaduran families who live, directly or indirectly, from tobacco cultivation cannot be abandoned to their fate.” Furthermore, it is a sector that helps maintain life in rural areas by developing in an area without any other type of alternative.

Agricultural organisations and cooperatives from Extremadura will mobilise in Madrid on Tuesday to demand the urgent authorisation of dichloropropene, exceptionally in this campaign, to end the discrimination suffered by producers in the region compared to Italian producers, who have authorised use of this product since April 8 and sell to the same industries as the Extremaduran and Spanish cigar makers.

Dichloropropene is a pesticide which has been banned in numerous countries due to the severe risk it poses to humans, wildlife and the environment. The Government is looking to eventually ban smoking due to the severe risks it poses to health.