Dilemmas of development: burley tobacco, the environment and economic growth in Malawi

Efforts to encourage smallholder farmers in Malawi to produce tobacco for export illustrate the dilemmas that developing nations and donor organisations face when their quest for development entails compelling economic incentives but potentially harmful impacts on human health and the environment. In addition to the well‐known impacts on health associated with the use of tobacco, its production can have deleterious effects on the environment, especially when production (and curing) entails substantial use of wood in a country facing high levels of deforestation. This article examines the rationale for choosing tobacco as a vehicle for economic development in Malawi and then addresses the difficulties associated with efforts to monitor and mitigate the environmental impacts of sectoral adjustment programmemes. Although advocates of sustainable development routinely argue that development can occur without damage to the environment, achieving this goal is problematic when poverty and malnutrition are widespread, as is the case in Malawi.