Growers threaten boycott over leaf prices

The Kisan Board of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, has rejected a price of Rs150 per kg for leaf tobacco and threatened to stop growing the crop if farmers are not paid Rs200 per kg, according to a story in The Express Tribune.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa grows the bulk of Pakistan’s tobacco crop. It produced 83 million kg in 2012-13, of which 80 percent was grown in the Swabi district.

The Kisan Board’s provincial president, Rizwanullah, was quoted as saying that the price of Rs150 per kg was not enough because it did not allow farmers to break even.

Those who attended a Kisan Board meeting in Shergarh on Sunday demanded tobacco companies and the Pakistan Tobacco Board increase the price, saying that they would otherwise boycott production in 2015.