SWABI, Dec 11: The two tobacco companies — Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC) and Lakson Tobacco Company (LTC) — have closed down five purchasing centres in the tobacco cultivating areas of the NWFP.
The PTC and LTC sources told Dawn here on Wednesday that they had already informed the Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB) about their decision and it was the responsibility of the board to inform the tobacco growers in time about the prevailing situation and the intention of the major companies for the year 2003 season.
The PTB sources said they had already announced the required quota of Virginia tobacco for year 2003 and as compared to the year 2002, it had been slashed by 36.98 per cent. The growers, the sources said, were informed that they should cultivate tobacco to the requirement of the companies.
When asked about the reason of closing down the tobacco purchasing centres, they said in the last four years the two companies had purchased bulk of surplus tobacco and the government had failed to make tobacco an exportable commodity like rice and cotton. Besides, they said, the anti-smoking campaign was also one of the reasons behind this act.
Among the closed centres, the sources said, four belonged to the PTC and one to the LTC but the latter centre purchased tobacco equivalent to the former four centres.
The purchasing centres of the PTC closed centres, they said, were: Sharif Abad (Mardan), Faujoon Abad (Tehsil Chota Lahore, Swabi), Mandani (Charsadda) and Khan Pur (Haripur).
However, according to some insiders, the closure of Sirdheri (Charsadda) purchasing centre had also been under consideration and it might have been closed down but there was strong resistance from some the PTC officials.
The sources said the LTC had closed just one centre, Yar Hussain (Swabi), and the remaining centres would buy tobacco from the growers as usual but the quota for year 2003 had been reduced.
AGREEMENTS: The agreements, the sources said, of all closed centres stood cancelled and the growers belonging to these centres had been advised to avoid cultivating tobacco and focus on growing alternative crops because there was no room for purchasing surplus tobacco nursery.
Only the PTC Faujoon Abad centre had inked about 300 agreements with the growers for the year 2002 season and purchased about 0.6 million kilogrammes, the sources said, adding that the total axed agreements by the PTC were more then 1,000 and none of the agreement-holder would be shifted to the running purchasing centre because the PTC had reduced its quota from about 12.5 million kg to 9.00 million kg.
The total cancelled agreements by the two companies may be over 2,000 and in the year 2003 season the affected growers would be at the mercy of small cigarette manufactures who would exploit the growers compulsion who would have to sell tobacco at the rock-bottom prices.
The sources said the Yar Hussain purchasing centre No.3 was basically for the Chota Lahore growers and its surroundings and most of the affected growers belonged to Tehsil Chota Lahore.
As compared to other tobacco growing areas of the NWFP, the sources said, district Swabi had been affected greatly because among the five closed centres, two were located in the district and the Yar Hussain No. 3 was one of the big centres.