Pakistani Company Seeks Governmental Answers

Source from:  tr.itsmyiq.com Feb 25, 2008 02/26/2008

Anjuman-e-Kashtkaran Tobacco NWFP demanded that the governor convene a meeting of all the company's stakeholders to address their problems, said a press release on Friday. The statement said that realistic decisions should be taken at the meeting about the prices of tobacco for the coming season. Anjuman-e-Kashtkaran Tobacco NWFP President Ikramullah Khan said that he had sent a letter to NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani, requesting him to call a meeting of the stakeholders, namely the presidents of the four registered associations of the province's farming community; representatives of the tobacco purchase companies; and the Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB) chairman, under his chairmanship at the Governor's House. Khan said realistic decisions on the prices of tobacco should be taken at the meeting and that the cost of production given by the association was Rs 94 per kilogramme, while the PTB always set a lower production price under the influence of multinational tobacco companies. Khan also said that the PTB did not announce the price for the coming year in October/ November so that farmers could sow wheat if they did not consider the tobacco price high enough. He said the Anjuman had held a press conference on February 16 to highlight the problems of tobacco farmers, and demanded solution to tobacco growers' problems. He said that Virginia Flue Cured tobacco was the second biggest cash crop grown in the province, and was a source of livelihood for more than 1.5 million people. The Anjuman president said that tobacco contributed CED/ST to the tune of Rs 32 billion annually to the Federal Board of Revenue, which was 26 percent of the total CED/ ST of Pakistan, while sugar mills contribute 11 percent and cotton 2 percent. He said that a sharp increase in the cost of production and a very slow increase in tobacco prices had resulted in large and medium farmers switching over to alternative crops, while the small peasant proprietors of Swabi and the tenant class of Charsadda, Mardan, Malakand, Buner, and Mansehra were still growing it because their whole families were involved in it. Enditem