Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) president Dr. Ram Raju has called for the closure of tobacco farms in the country and suggested replacing them with fruit and crop farms.
Dr. Raju emphasized this point during NCCI’s post-budget consultation in Nadi on Friday, which was attended by Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad.
“We have not reduced tobacco consumption in the country,” Dr. Raju stated.
Expressing his dissatisfaction with the recent national budget’s 5 percent increase in excise tax on alcohol and tobacco, Dr. Raju said, “Only a 5 percent increase in the taxes, it should have been much more, by at least 20 percent or 30 percent.”
He pointed out that high tobacco consumption is a primary factor in the ongoing high incidence of people, particularly breadwinners, dying from cigarette or tobacco-related illnesses.
Dr. Raju noted that tobacco and cigarettes directly cause non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
“We are not going to reverse the trends of NCDs in this country until we look at all the risk factors affecting the people, and one of the biggest risk factors is tobacco,” he said.
“We need to see that we get rid of tobacco farms and replace them with fruits, crops, and vegetables.”
Dr. Raju explained that by doing so, the country would be able to export more vegetables instead of growing a product that harms people. He also mentioned that suki consumption is another growing challenge in the country.
“We have the statistics and facts and figures for us to see,” he concluded.