PAKISTAN
Tobacco cultivating areas in Swabi are expected to soon receive a total of Rs256 million from a tobacco cess development fund for the fiscal year 2016-17.
The cess fund should only be used in tobacco cultivating districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the welfare of growers. Swabi, Mansehra, Charsadda, Mardan, Buner, and Swat are the districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who receive the cess fund each year through MPAs who are authorized to utilize it for development projects in tobacco producing areas in their constituencies.
Swabi’s share in the cess fund in 2015-16 was Rs255 million.
Before release of the fund, the MPAs of the respective district had to agree on the fund distribution formula. The fund is provided to each district and then divided among the provincial assembly constituencies according to the crop production there.