PAKISTAN
Tobacco is being cultivated on about 0.25% of the land in Pakistan and provides employment opportunities to 75,000 farmers’ families in rural areas and over one million direct and indirect employment to the rest of the population, says Niamat Shah Roghani, vice president of Anjumn-e-Kashtkaran Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (AKKP).
According to Roghani, due to terrorist attacks and slow economic activities, all other business and employment sources have been destroyed. The only mean of earning is tobacco farming. but unfortunately, an increase in taxes made it impossible for poor farmers to continue its cultivation.
He also added that another reason for losses to farmers was reduction in cigarettes and 50% reduction in excise duty by the creation of third slab.
Roghani has demanded that the government declare tobacco a normal crop like other crops in terms of taxation, as well as a 5% advance withholding tax, Rs10 per kg FED on tobacco leaf, and Rs 3.67 per kg federal government cess must be included in the federal excise duty on cigarette production instead of imposition on tobacco crop. In addition, he also demanded that the third slab of cigarettes introduced in the 2017 budget and 50% reduction in federal excise duty must be eliminated.