ISLAMABAD, Aug 30: Minister for Commerce Humayun Akhtar Khan has said that tobacco is one of the major exports of Pakistan and all necessary steps will be taken to modernise tobacco farming in the country.

He was talking to a delegation of tobacco growers from district Buner, NWFP, on Wednesday.

‘Tobacco farming is the backbone of our exports, therefore work on setting up a state-of-the-art tobacco research centre has been sped up,” said the minister, adding that modern tobacco kilns will be built soon in the region.

MNA Sher Akbar Khan, who was heading the delegation, briefed the minister about problems faced by the tobacco growers of his district. Annually, 8 million kg of Virginia tobacco, worth Rs9200 million is cultivated in Buner, he said and added that almost 50 per cent of the cultivable land is utilised for tobacco farming.

He further said that tobacco farming was initiated in 1963 in the region to provide an economic substitute to the opium growers. He said that lack of research facility, modern techniques, and unavailability of natural gas has marred the tobacco farming.

Mr. Khan further said that there were at least 4,760 tobacco kilns in district Buner which operate under outdated methods. The minister assured the delegation of his ministry’s full cooperation and facilitation to overcome hurdles faced by tobacco growers of NWFP.