(C) World Health Organization This story was originally published by World Health Organization and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . WHO-led Tobacco-Free Farms Initiative awarded UN grant for scaling up [1] [] Date: 2024-06 The WHO-led Tobacco-Free Farms Initiative has been honoured with the Scale Catalyst Grant through the UN Global Pulse Scale Accelerator Programme. This recognition underscores the Initiative's innovative approach to addressing the multifaceted challenges posed by tobacco farming to economic development, food security and nutrition, and climate resilience. Over the last two decades, the tobacco industry has increasingly shifted tobacco production to African countries, with a 19.8% increase in production locally compared to a 15.8% global decrease. Kenya is one of the highest tobacco producers in the region, and while tobacco's contribution to GDP is minimal, over 2.8 million Kenyans face acute food insecurity, with smallholder farmers often drawn to tobacco cultivation by promises of high returns and market stability. WHO No Tobacco team at headquarters, along with the WHO Regional Office for Africa and WHO Kenya Country Office, joined forces with World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), Farm-to-Market-Alliance and Cereal Growers’ Association to launch the Tobacco-Free Farms Initiative in 2021. The Initiative puts the One UN model into practice by leveraging the respective expertise of the health, food, agriculture and finance sectors to shape the market for alternative crops to tobacco. By establishing supportive ecosystems for crop production and viable markets for alternatives, the initiative empowers farmers to transition away from tobacco. In collaboration with national and county governments, the initiative has already made significant strides in supporting over 6000 farmers across four counties in Kenya to shift to cultivating climate-safe and nutritious high-iron beans, which are supplied to various institutions including schools, hospitals and prisons. Notably, farmers are experiencing a gross revenue increase three times higher than when cultivating tobacco, and the shorter maturation period and favourable rainfall patterns in these regions allow for multiple bean harvests per year. A partnership-driven approach Each partner plays distinct roles in bringing this initiative to life. WHO coordinates partnerships between all agencies and government stakeholders, taking the lead in ensuring effective implementation of the initiative and coordinating monitoring, evaluation and reporting. WFP assures the market, both through its connections to structured markets under the Farm-to-Market-Alliance, but also by guaranteeing offtake to farmers under the initiative through its own purchasing power. FAO supports capacity building of farmers related to agrinutrition and climate-resilience practices. UNCDF facilitates access to capital to finance agribusiness to bridge the gap between tobacco growing and the shift to food crops. The success of the Initiative so far was the catalyst for applying to the UN Global Pulse Scale Accelerator Programme. Tobacco-Free Farms was one of 70 UN teams to apply, and one of seven teams selected to undergo a rigorous Scale Strategy Development workshop series aimed at refining strategies for scaling innovative solutions from pilot stages to broader implementation. Following an intensive review process by external experts, the initiative emerged as one of the three recipients of the Scale Catalyst Grant. “We have leveraged the respective expertise of our partners to support smallholder farmers to shift to crops that will have long-term impacts on economic development, health outcomes, land rehabilitation, and climate resilience in communities transitioning away from tobacco cultivation,” says Dr Rüdiger Krech, Director, WHO Director of Health Promotion. “The Scale Catalyst Grant is the first ever such award for WHO, demonstrating the potential of the Tobacco-Free Farms Initiative for scalability and transformative change.” With the support of this grant, the project will continue to expand to cover more tobacco growing areas across Kenya as well as document successes and best practices for replication across other tobacco-growing countries in the region. As the global community continues to strive towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)s, initiatives like the Tobacco-Free Farms Initiative stand as beacons of progress, demonstrating the power of collective action in addressing challenges in sustainable development. WHO remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting such initiatives and looks forward to further collaborations in building a healthier, more equitable world for all. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.who.int/news/item/07-06-2024-who-led-tobacco-free-farms-initiative-awarded-un-grant-for-scaling-up Published and (C) by World Health Organization Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/who/