首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Malawi’s Green Gold They call it "Green Gold" in Malawi. Tobacco rakes in more than 70 percent of Malawi’s foreign exchange
Malawi’s Green Gold They call it "Green Gold" in Malawi. Tobacco rakes in more than 70 percent of Malawi’s foreign exchange
admin
2013-02-03
71
问题
Malawi’s Green Gold
They call it "Green Gold" in Malawi. Tobacco rakes in more than 70 percent of Malawi’s foreign exchange and contributes one third of the country’s gross domestic product, giving Malawi the dubious honour of being the most tobacco-dependent economy in the world.
In turn, the country contributes five percent of global tobacco exports including a fifth of the world’s burley tobacco, a sought-after sun-dried variety used in strong-tasting cigarette brands like Marlborough.
As an indication of the country’s dependence on tobacco sales, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 70 percent of Malawi’s 11 million residents depend either directly or indirectly on tobacco for their livelihoods.
Tobacco became the backbone of Malawi’s economy under the dictatorship of Dr Hastings Banda who assumed control of the country at its independence from Britain in 1964 and remained in power until he was deposed by a referendum in 1993. During his almost three-decade reign, Dr Banda encouraged the tobacco industry and amassed a personal empire that saw him become the largest private tobacco grower in the world.
Today, only foreign aid provides more income for Malawi than tobacco. Therefore tobacco’s reputation as a leading cause of preventable death worldwide is a dilemma for the government. As one of the poorest countries in Africa, Malawi depends on tobacco exports to buy food as well as maintain struggling health, education and infrastructure initiatives. Yet without the support of foreign aid organizations, most of which oppose tobacco growing, Malawi’s fragile economy would crumble.
One does not have to look far to predict the consequences of an economic collapse in Malawi. This year, failure of the east African maize crop combined with economic mismanagement triggered the country’s worst famine on record. Thousands have already died of starvation and the British aid organization Oxfam estimates that 3 million people in Malawi face a similar fate unless something is done. The food crisis only adds to existing burdens in a country where adult HIV rates are estimated at one in five, malaria is endemic and childhood malnutrition widespread. Remove tobacco profits from this equation and many fear a human calamity.
Ethical Dilemmas
Compromising situations can create unusual political alliances and the tobacco industry in Malawi has some unlikely supporters. Dr J. M. Mfutso Bengo, for instance, is a senior lecturer at the Malawi College of Medicine in Blantyre, a member of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee and has a PhD in bioethics from a German university. When the World Health Organization was looking for a consultant in Malawi for their anti-tobacco lobby in 2001, Dr Mfutso Bengo was well qualified for the position. He chose not to apply because of ethical and moral objections to the WHO campaign in Malawi. "
"My position is not motivated from ideology, it is motivated from pragmatism," says Dr Mfutso Bengo, who himself is a non-smoker and receives no funding from the industry. "Tobacco employs more than half of Malawi’s labour force. If they take away tobacco, it would be economic suicide for Malawi. The social and health infrastructures would collapse and it would push Malawi further towards absolute dependence on foreign aid. The WHO could give me money to campaign against the industry but the poor people who are employed by the industry, where would they be?"
Dr Mfutso Bengo sees double standards at work in the international anti-tobacco lobby, whose concerns about smoking-related deaths in the developed world he says overlook the more immediate health and economic problems in Malawi. "In a country where 60 percent of people live below the poverty line, basic health needs are most pressing-things like the prevention of cholera, malnutrition, malaria. Dealing with tobacco-based cancer is a luxury," he says.
How many people in Malawi are likely to die of starvation this year?
选项
答案
3 million
解析
文章第六段提到Thousands have already died of starvation and the British aid organization Oxfam estimates that 3 million people in Malawi face a similar fate.
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/3UyK777K
本试题收录于:
A类竞赛(研究生)题库大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)分类
0
A类竞赛(研究生)
大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)
相关试题推荐
WhereToGo,WhatToDoFridayClintBlackOneofthehotnewartistsonthecountrymusicsce
TensofmillionsoftelevisionviewersaroundtheworldhavebecomefamiliarwiththemusicaltalentshowTheXFactor,whichor
CollegeofEngineering,MathematicsandPhysicalScienceHarrisonBuildingStreathamCampusUniversityofExeterExeterUKEX44
Inordertogetinformationaboutdistantplanets,scientistsinventedspacecrafttotravelintothesolarsystemtoseethepla
ThenumberofresidentswhosenativelanguageisnotEnglishhasrisen34%inthelasttenyearstoapproximately53million,ac
TherearetworeasonswhyIwantedtocometosouthernGermanytostudy.IwantedtobeatthecentreofEurope,withineasyrea
Intheearly1950stheresearcherswhoproducedthefirstcladglassopticalfiberswerenotthinkingofusingthemforcommunic
Whatwasthemangoingtodoaccordingtotheconversation?
Mymotherhasalwayshadatendencyto__________theimportanceofminorproblems.
Companiessaythatinmanycases,thebenefitsofforeign-languageknowledgecanlieoutsidethespecificrealmofbusiness.That
随机试题
组织冲突的渊源包括()
男,81岁。骶尾部疼痛3个月,咳嗽2周,无发热,无外伤史。影像学宜首选何种检查
A.抗血小板聚集治疗B.抗凝治疗C.溶栓治疗D.血液稀释疗法E.钙拮抗剂治疗
患者,男,25岁,爱上了比他大30多岁的婶婶,明知不能继续这种性关系,但不能摆脱,而来寻求治疗。对于该患者,首选的治疗方法可以为
一位专家指出,必须对不断增加的公共假期采取控制措施。他的理由是由于假期过多,减免的高速公路费对国家财政产生了不良影响。以下哪项为真,能够对这位专家的观点进行恰当的驳斥?
(2006年)热力学中常用的状态参数有()。
机床常见事故与机床的危险因素有密切的关系,下列事故中,不属于机床常见事故的是()。
常用的剪切板料设备有哪些?并说明其使用范围。
19世纪,关于非马克思主义法学关于法的本质的代表学说有()。
Completethetablebelow.ChooseNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSfromthepassageforeachanswer.Writeyouranswersinboxes32-36on
最新回复
(
0
)