PESHAWAR:The tobacco growers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have expressed concern over a proposed legislation as they feared the law if passed would render millions of people jobless. The concern was voiced at a meeting of tobacco growers from all over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said a press release. The meeting demandedthe withdrawal of theproposed bill currently under consideration in the Senate.
The press release said, “Millions of tobacco cultivators in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be deprived of their bread and butter owing to the controversial bill that is presently under Senate’s consideration for passage.”
It said that there were more than 1.1 million people affiliated with tobacco-growing in KP and they had no other means of livelihood and tobacco cultivation was their only source of income. The press release said if the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Bill was passed, it would deal a deadly blow to the tobacco cultivation and would render millions of people jobless.
The proposed bill prohibits all kind of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, which is likely to result in drastic reduction in the tobacco’s chain of supply. The farmers said tobacco was a cash crop and their main source of livelihood and vowed to resist any attempt towards the prohibition of the tobacco cultivation.
Speaking at the meeting, Growers Coordination Council president Azam Khansaid that besidesthe growers, tobacco was highly beneficial for the country asit generated revenue worth over Rs100 billion in head of Federal Excise Duty.
He opined that instead of its prohibition, the government should pay subsidy to its growers. He said that the crop was cultivated on the demand of the tobacco companies after fixation of the support price for each year. Liaqat Yousafzai, another tobacco grower, said that more than 1.1 million people were associated with tobacco industry directly and indirectly. He said the number of tobacco growers was 80,000.
