May 29, 2002	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 16,1423

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SWABI, May 28: Considering the importance of tobacco as a cash crop in the Swabi area, the NWFP minister for food and agriculture, Ubaid Ullah Jan, said the officials of the Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB) would visit Swabi to listen to the tobacco growers’ complaints and work towards the solution of their problems.

Speaking at a ceremony at the Pakistan Tobacco Company, Firdausabad, on Monday, he said growers frequently complained that a number of farmers had not been issued agreements, which scuttled their plans to sell their products in time.

The growers alleged that the company indulged in lower grading, thus pushing the rates of tobacco downward. They said that in the purchasing season, the companies failed to pick up all their products.

The companies, he said, countered that their’s was the only industry that had a law on the books that required the rates of tobacco products be higher than each previous year, and if any company indulged in keeping the rates lower from each previous year, they would be violating the law. This was in reference to the tobacco marketing law, MLO 487.

In contrast, the buyers protested that growers had produced surplus tobacco and as a result, they were forced to purchase more than the announced quota. They said it was getting difficult to accommodate the surplus.

The minister said the growers should cultivate tobacco according to the requirements of the companies to avoid the rivalry that had begun to emerge between the growers and the buyers.

He said it was the responsibility of the federal government to make tobacco an exportable commodity and that the provincial government would extend complete support in this regard.

He assured the growers that the PTB and the provincial government would attempt all efforts to create a peaceful environment between the companies and the growers.