World No Tobacco Day

That the Parliament marks World No Tobacco Day, which was established by the World Health Organization (WHO) and takes place on 31 May 2023; commends the health charity, ASH Scotland, for raising awareness in Scotland about the "We need food, not tobacco" theme for the 2023 global campaign to encourage tobacco farmers to instead grow sustainable, nutritious crops; expresses concern regarding reports that tobacco cultivation requires heavy use of pesticides and fertilisers, which, it understands, depletes soil fertility and can lead to tobacco farmers and their families who plant, cultivate and harvest tobacco being at risk of absorbing, in a single day, as much nicotine as is found in 50 cigarettes; recognises the Scottish Government’s international development work in supporting agricultural businesses in Malawi to grow food crops as an alternative to tobacco; commends the continued work of local partners in supporting farmers to move away from tobacco production in favour of crops such as macadamia; believes that farmers in Malawi are working under multiple pressures, including increased costs and are already being exposed to the impacts of climate change, including erratic weather patterns and devastating events such as Tropical Cyclone Freddy; understands that the African Lakes Company, a Scottish company that is making investments in growth-stage companies in Africa, has completed an initial equity investment of £1.1 million, made possible by the support of private investors and match funding from the Scottish Government, in St Andrew Macadamia Limited to enable the former tobacco farm in Namadzi, Malawi, to complete its conversion to growing the more socially responsible and economically viable crop of macadamia nuts, and notes that the company has also supported the development of the Agricultural Community Foundation to provide sustainable livelihoods for women who formerly worked on the tobacco farm, and looks forward to Scotland’s future generations being tobacco-free, and all farms throughout the world, especially those in low-income food-deficit countries such as Malawi, transitioning from growing tobacco to food crops, and to make progress towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2 of zero hunger.