The World Health Organization says that one in 10 deaths among adults worldwide is as a result of cigarette smoking, with one person dying every six seconds.

Unless urgent action is taken, tobacco’s annual death toll will rise to more than eight million by 2030, says the WHO.

The Ministry of Agriculture in Central Equatoria state says that the statistics are alarming. Michael Roberto suggests that a cigarette factory in Yei town be turned into a food or soft-drinks factory.

“Our communities in Yei River County, we encourage them to grow crops such as food crops, not only for food, but also for income from the production of food. It can make millions of dollars. Why don’t we capture this millions of dollars by producing our own food crops?”

Mr. Roberto also appealed to investors to coordinate with the government on areas of investment.

But the General Manager of Carnac South Sudan cigarette factory, Jean Pierre Saputo says investing in tobacco is a choice for investors, who could also fund food production if they wanted to.

“It is true tobacco is surrounded by different controversies; like those in the Ministry of Agriculture they say it spoils the soil, but it doesn’t spoil the soil of South Sudan only; in America, Brazil, Europe, in Asia and everywhere in the world, they grow tobacco,” he said.

“In Malawi and Zimbabwe, they are growing tobacco together with other crops. Zimbabwe is the first country growing big quantity of tobacco and also food. We always teach farmers how to cultivate different crops concurrently,” he said.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that the cultivation of tobacco is economically disadvantageous to most countries, especially developing countries.

FAO says when resources are put into tobacco production; they are taken away from food production.

Tobacco production also requires the use of a large amount of pesticides, which can make have negative effects on the soil according to the FAO.