The growing number of cigarette smokers daily, has been considered a cause for concern, with the tobacco industry urged to seek ways to substitute its cultivation with sustainable and more nutritious crops.
While celebrating World No Tobacco Day on May 31, smokers who have stopped said the effects are deadly.
“I started smoking at the age of 19. I’ve smoked almost for five years. I was already at the age of 25 and decided to stop cigarette, because at times when I cough, I spit blood” Gideon Tumi, a motor mechanic in Yaounde said.
“It affected me in such a way that even my handwork, to even fix a vehicle, I’m not able. I’m a driver I cannot even drive, because I already have chest pain” Gideon added.
According to the World Health Organization, the tobacco industry is “interfering with attempts to substitute tobacco growing with sustainable crops, thereby contributing to the global food crisis”.
The organization also indicates that across the globe, around 3.5 million hectares of land are converted for tobacco growing each year, thus contributing to deforestation.