Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) president Dr Ram Raju has called for the closure of tobacco farms in the country and replacing them with fruit and crops.
He highlighted this 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,” he said.
Dr Raju said he was not pleased with the 5 per cent increase in excise tax on alcohol and tobacco by the Government in the recently announced national budget.
“Only a 5 per cent increase in the taxes, it should have been much more, by at least 20 per cent or 30 per cent.
“The high tobacco consumption was the reason why we are continuing to see the high incidence of people/breadwinners dying from cigarette or tobacco-related illnesses.”
He said tobacco and cigarettes were a direct cause of 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.
“We need to see that we get rid of tobacco farms and replace them with fruits, crops, and vegetables.”
Dr Raju explained that in this way, we would be able to export more vegetables, rather than “growing a product that kills people”. He said suki consumption was another growing challenge in the country.
“We have the statistics and facts and figures for us to see.”
