Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB) on Saturday said that the support price of tobacco had been fixed in consultation with tobacco growers. "We have taken all stakeholders on board regarding the fixation of minimum price of tobacco," Gohar Ali, advisor to PTB told APP. Minimum price of one kilogram for tobacco crop 2010 has been fixed at Rs 98 per kilogram, he said, adding that the rate has been fixed on the basis of production cost of the crop.
Giving details about the procedure for price fixation, he said, "the federal government constitute a formal committee headed by Agriculture Price Commission and two separate sub-committees for Punjab and NWFP. A special price fixation committee having representation from Agricultural Policy Institute (API), Pakistan Tobacco Board, Department of Agriculture NWFP, Industry Division, Islamabad, representative tobacco growing areas and tobacco companies recommend the fixation of the commodity. The formal announcement in this regard is made by the Agriculture Price Commissioner."
Before fixating support price for the current year, the board selected randomly 120 growers, who were interviewed, he added. In the past, he said, the announcement of support price used to be made at the time of harvesting, which was injustice to the growers. The board, he said has now adopted a new exercise for the fixation of the support price. When contacted Fazal Elahi, a tobacco grower of district Swabi, expressed satisfaction over the tobacco support price announced for the current year.
He said that the price is Rs 16 higher per kilogram as compared to previous year, which was Rs 82 per kilogram. He said the board had taken all stakeholders on board before announcement of the support price. Ehsanullah Khan, another member of the support price committee, said the price has been announced on the basis of the cost of production. He said vested interests were raising hue and cry that was totally unjustified.