Tobacco is, as some people say, a difficult subject. We are agriculture, there's no doubt about it, but tobacco hasn't been treated the same as the rest. Government policies have affected our marketplace. We need a decision made to help us exit tobacco farming, because our equity is destroyed. The livelihood is going to disappear as smoking declines. That's a given and we accept that. But we cannot get out of this mess ourselves. Our communities, and we as farmers, are in severe distress.
On November 28th, 2006. See this statement in context.