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SWABI: Tobacco growers and their representatives on Saturday unanimously demanded that the federal Ministry of National Food Security hold consultations with farmers before abolishing the tobacco weighted average price (WAP) mechanism and amending tobacco laws.
They said the federal cabinet had been informed that tobacco farmers earned a profit of 26.41 per cent under the minimum indicative price (MIP) during 2024-25. However, they claimed farmers had actually earned only about 4.81pc under the MIP, while profits under the WAP stood at around 5.07pc instead of the 67.33pc presented to the cabinet.
Addressing a press conference, Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB) former director Muhammad Ayaz Khan said the federal government was planning to amend the Tobacco Marketing Rules, 2016, and the tobacco marketing law, Martial Law Order (MLO) 487, to abolish the WAP mechanism used to determine the annual MIP for tobacco.
“Tobacco is completely different from other crops. It costs about Rs2 million per hectare to cultivate, and farmers grow it in unbearable heat,” he said.
