SWABI: The Tobacco growers have welcomed the announcement of Minimum Indicative Price (MIP) of the crop for the current year, by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), giving a big advantage to the farmers, as now the multinational and national companies are bound to purchase surplus tobacco from them, otherwise, it would be a violation of the tobacco marketing law, MLO-487.

Sharing the price, they told Dawn that the flue-cured Virginia in the plain area would be sold at Rs545 per kg and in the sub-mountainous regions at Rs615.9 per kg. Similarly, they said that the white Patta tobacco and its other types would be purchased at Rs262.6 per kg, barely at Rs316 per kg, dark-aired cured tobacco at Rs388.9 per kg, tobacco used in ‘naswar/snuff/hokkah’ at Rs262.6 per kg and sun-cured Virginia at Rs350.2 per kg.

They said that the new cess rates of aforementioned varieties of tobacco for the current year are: flued-cured Virginia Rs16.35 per kg, tobacco of sub-mountainous areas at Rs28.47

per kg, white Patta tobacco Rs7.87 per kg, barley Rs9.48 per kg, dark-aired cured tobacco Rs12.66 per kg, ‘naswar/snuff/hokkah’ Rs7.87 per kg and sun-cured Virginia Rs10. 50 perkg.

The leading growers and officials told Dawn that Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB) reported that the cost of growing tobacco had increased to Rs1.9 million per hectare and it was a fact that growers worked in an extreme heat, usually the temperatures reached 47°C, stressing that tobacco crop should not be treated like other crops, as growing it was an uphill task.

Muhammad Ayaz, former member of the PTB board of directors said that tobacco cultivation incurred a lot of expenses and required hard work and energy compared to growing other crops.

“One hectare of wheat crop costs about Rs0.3 million while that of tobacco crop costs Rs1.9 million. Now, if the wheat rate falls, then the loss per hectare of wheat growers will be in thousands of rupees,” he said, adding that if the price of tobacco falls, the loss per hectare of tobacco crop will be in the hundreds of thousands of rupees, which will be a big financial blow to the farmers.

The announcement of MIP by federal government would ensure the sustainability of the tobacco crop, he said.

Muhammad Ali Dagiwal, representing growers, said that the MIP benefitted tobacco growers, as tobacco companies were bound by marketing rules of tobacco to ensure that surplus tobacco would not be purchased at a price lower than that of the MIP.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2025