The Centre for Agricultural Research and Development (CARD) of the Lilongwe University of 
Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) is implementing a National Institutes of Health 
(NIH)-funded project entitled, Building Research and Capacity on the Economic Policy – Tobacco 
Control Nexus in Africa. The multi-country project is being implemented in Kenya, Malawi and 
Zambia and involves partnerships among CARD, the University of Zambia, the International 
Institute for Legislative Affairs (ILA-Kenya), the University of Ottawa (Canada), McGill 
University (Canada), and the American Cancer Society (USA). The primary objective of this 
project is to understand the political and economic factors that contribute to tobacco production 
and control. Tobacco is a unique crop. On the one hand decades of research has confirmed that 
tobacco consumption is entirely detrimental to human health, while on the other tobacco 
continues to be a lucrative economic commodity for some. From a policy perspective there is a 
global movement by governments to control the marketing, sale, price, packaging and other 
aspects of tobacco products while within the same governments there is often ambivalence to or 
outright dismissal of the health risk of tobacco consumption as officials privilege policies that 
support tobacco production.