Farmer Refutes Tobacco Claims

Source from:  Fiji Times Online (fj) 08/20/2004

A TOBACCO farmer has refuted reports school children missed school during the harvesting season. Ratu Timoci Nakaikoso from Tubairata, in Nadroga, told the British American Tobacco dialogue session in Suva yesterday the report was not true and he would like to know how and where that report came to be. Mr Nakaikoso was one of six tobacco farmers invited to attend BAT's second dialogue session. "This is not true and it will definitely paint a bad image of us tobacco farmers," he said. Last week BAT launched a report on child labour in the tobacco industry in Fiji. The report found that 18 per cent of children missed school during the harvesting season. But Mr Nakaikoso insisted this was not true. "Tobacco leaves are not picked during the day but picked between 3pm to 6pm when the weather is cool. This is because the leaves are very soft and will break easily if it is picked during the day when its hot." He said by 3pm students returned from school and helped with the picking of tobacco leaves. "So the report is wrong." He said farmers cultivated tobacco to give their children a better education. Mr Nakaikoso thanked BAT for having a reliable market for their crop, saying he hoped the good relationship between the company and farmers would go a long way. BAT general manager Andrew Macdonald said the company was very pleased with the interest shown by stakeholders in attending the dialogue session. "We have certainly found the social reporting process to be a challenging yet productive experience over the past two years. We look forward to furthering this progress." Results from the first round of dialogue in 2002 included expanding the company's youth smoking prevention initiative and bolder health warnings on cigarette packaging. Enditem