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Fred Okippi's five-acre backyard is a lush emerald field of tobacco. Dressed in a black T-shirt and red hat, he delicately bends stems as he weaves his way through the plants, carefully pruning unwanted leaves. "This [tobacco] is my future," he says from his home in Uganda's western district of Kiryandongo.
But that future is under threat. The government wants to pass a bill that will restrict the manufacture and sale of tobacco and encourage people to give up smoking.
"If the government wants to ban tobacco use, then we are going to suffer," Okippi says. "Where are we going to get money to educate our children?"
All Okippi's neighbours in Lamuorungur village grow tobacco. "Our parents grew tobacco and we took on the trade after their death, says Onen Can, Okippi's neighbour, who has about seven acres.
Can, 56, and Okippi, 55, have grown tobacco all their lives. They do not understand how their government can contemplate enacting a law that could threaten farming the crop. Other crops such as maize are not as profitable as tobacco, they say.
Last year, Okippi says, a kilogramme of tobacco was bought for 4,000 Ugandan shillings (UShs), or $1.60, while that of maize went for just UShs750 ($0.30).
There are an estimated 75,000 tobacco farmers in Uganda. The crop, a big earner for Uganda, is widely grown in Arua, Kanungu, Koboko, Kiryandongo, and Masindi districts. In 2011, the government earned Shs87.5bn ($37.7m) in taxes from tobacco, making it one of the country's top 10 revenue sources.
The tobacco control bill was tabled in March by Chris Baryomunsi MP. The bill will restrict the growing, selling, and marketing of the crop. Baryomunsi said farmers, who immediately denounced the bill, had benefited little from decades of tobacco farming and many still live in extreme poverty.
A 2012 survey by Platform for Labour Action (PLA), a Kampala-based NGO, found that most children in homes growing tobacco missed half of their schooling during planting and harvesting seasons.
Neither Okippi nor Can has managed to build a permanent house – both live in grass-thatched huts. Sometimes, they struggle to afford one meal a day. But, they say their children are able to go to school because of the money earned from tobacco.
Baryomunsi, a trained doctor, says the bill seeks to protect Ugandans from diseases such as cancer. It has gained massive support from the medical fraternity.
The bill, expected to be passed into law this year, seeks to prohibit smoking within 100 metres of any public place, workplace, and on public transport. It bans tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship.
Dr Sheila Ndyanabangi, a tobacco control focal person at Uganda's health ministry, said tobacco had no benefit other than straining the health system.
"Tobacco kills," she said. "We want to make it extremely hard for one to find or smoke a cigarette. "At the Uganda Cancer Institute, we followed the history of most patients diagnosed with lung cancer, cancer of the mouth, throat and oesophagus and found they had been smoking."
The health minister, Ruhakana Rugunda, has called for higher taxes on tobacco products to put the cost of cigarettes out of reach for many people. He said it would also reduce the uptake and use of tobacco products by young people.
Okippi is aware of the link between tobacco and cancer, but is among the 15% of Ugandans who smoke. "I hear that tobacco causes cancer, but I have not got any problem," says Okippi, his smile revealing a mouthful of discoloured teeth.
Uganda's Mulago national referral hospital in Kampala says 75% of the oral cancer patients it has treated had a history of tobacco use, with the number of years they had spent smoking ranging from two to 33, according to a 2008 study by Fredrick Musoke, an academic at Makerere University, Kampala.
The Centre for Tobacco Control Africa says 13,500 Ugandans die annually as a result of tobacco use. The World Health Organisation estimates 5 million people die globally each year.
While Kenya and Tanzania, Uganda's neighbours, have tobacco laws, Ugandan traders remain unconvinced about similar plans for their country. Many describe the bill as draconian. If passed, they say, it would not only hamper their profits, but also hurt the economy.
Everest Kayondo, chairman of Kampala City Traders' Association, said: "If people have invested their money, then they should be given a favourable environment to sell it."
In a statement, tobacco-producing companies in the country – which includes British American Tobacco, Ugandan Tobacco Services Ltd, and Continental Tobacco, said: "The law must make a distinction between the products sought to be regulated and the individual corporate entity that enjoys fundamental rights and freedoms. The law should not seek to ban legitimate trade activities."
To farmers Okippi and Can, the law is nothing but a way to deny them daily income.
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