Pakistan: Campaign Launched against Anti-tobacco Farming Guidelines

Source from:  The News (pk)  11/07/2012

Following the successful launch of the 'Save our Farms' campaign at the Third Asia Tobacco Forum in Manila on September 25, tobacco farmers have launched a 30-second public information campaign designed to alert leaders to propose anti-tobacco farming guidelines that would devastate the livelihoods of millions of tobacco farmers in Asia.

Farmers across Asia, including here in Pakistan, are calling on governments in the region to stand with tobacco farmers in opposition to the guidelines which have been prepared without the input of farmers, before the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Conference of the Parties (CoP), that will be held in Seoul this week. The guidelines include mandating the seasons when tobacco can and cannot be grown, cutting off all government and private-sector support for tobacco farmers, limiting then reducing the land area where tobacco can be grown and having countries reduce tobacco production simultaneously.

President Sarhad Chamber of Agriculture Ahsan Ullah Khan said that bureaucrats with very limited real world knowledge of agriculture were attempting to impose an agenda on Pakistan that would, if implemented, devastate the livelihoods of farmers, farm workers and farming communities.

"This campaign is a wake-up call for leaders here in Pakistan and across Asia that they must stand in solidarity with farmers," he said. In addition to the public information drive, the campaign includes a website – saveourfarms.org – and an online petition.

Rustam Khan Swati, President Anjuman Kashtkaran Tobacco Hazara division, said that Pakistani tobacco growing farmers, especially war-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa farmers, would agitate against the imposition of the FCTC.

Swati said that tobacco was a major cash crop for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa farmers and imposition of the FCTC would mean depriving them of their bread and butter. "To protect our right we have joined hands with the growing international tobacco community to register our protest with the Pakistani leadership," he added.

"We are asking the Pakistani leadership to oppose banning minimum support prices and leaf auctions; restricting of production by regulating the seasons when tobacco can be grown; reducing the area allocated for tobacco farming; banning technical support for tobacco farmers and dismantling all bodies connecting growers with governments," said Swati. "We will not allow anyone to snatch our bread and butter at any cost," he said. Enditem