SWABI: Leaders of tobacco growers have urged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to constitute a committee to prepare a report regarding losses caused to tobacco crop due to recent hailstorm in various districts of the province.

Kashtkar Coordination Council (KCC), Tobacco Growers Association Pakistan (TGAP) and Kisan Board leaders at a joint meeting here on Sunday said that they had gathered information that in Swabi, Manshera, Mardan, Charsadda and Buner districts hailstorm accompanied by gusty winds had extensively damaged the standing crop.

The participants demanded that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and Pakistan Tobacco Board constitute a committee in which leaders of growers should also be included to conduct a survey for collecting data about damage caused to the crop by hailstorm. They said the crop was in a very critical stage.

It is worth mentioning here that White Patta (WP) tobacco harvesting has been started in various areas and Virginia tobacco curing season is about to begin soon in all the tobacco growing regions.

They said tobacco was the only cash crop in Swabi district and only source of livelihood for thousands of families.

Tobacco is the self-employed crop and any damage to it would have a far-reaching impact on the economic status of the growers and life of thousands of families, the participants noted.

“The federal government pockets over Rs120 billion income from the tobacco crop each year. No other crop in the country contributes so hugely to the government exchequer,” said Liaqat Yousafzai, central chairman of TGAP.

However, he said the federal government had not yet given tobacco the crop status like cotton. “We have been crying but nobody is ready to pay due heed to our genuine demands,” he said. “If tobacco were to be grown in Punjab province then the growers would enjoy numerous facilities.”

Azam Khan, central president of KCC, said it was responsibility of the government and PTB to help the tobacco growers it their crop was damaged in any natural calamity.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2017