A consumer rights campaigner has urged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chairperson Imran Khan to direct Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government to eradicate tobacco cultivation from the province.
“We not only demand the PTI leadership to make K-P a tobacco free province by shifting tobacco economy to some non-hazardous businesses,” Executive Coordinator of The Network for Consumer Protection, Nadeem Iqbal said in a press release issued here on Wednesday.
He drew PTI chief’s attention towards hundreds of tobacco fields in K-P, the province where PTI is currently in power.
Iqbal hailed the PTI chief’s decision to build another cancer hospital in Peshawar, which according to Imran would be better equipped than the Shaukat Khanam Memorial Cancer Hospital.
He vowed to stand by Khan in his battle against cancer but at the same time expressed concern that tobacco being the main cause of cancer is cultivated on a large scale in K-P.
Over 50,000 hectares in K-P are currently being used to grow tobacco, mostly in Swabi, Mardan, and Charsadda, he said. He also called on the provincial government to offer an alternative crops policy to tobacco growers.
Almost one third of Pakistani men (32.4 percent) and 5.7 percent of women smoke tobacco, Iqbal said, adding that smokeless tobacco product use is also widespread, with smokeless users consuming gutka, naswar and paan.
Besides, use of tobacco in youth is an emerging problem. Over 100,000 Pakistanis die each year of tobacco-related diseases. The majority of these deaths result in lung, oral cancers, strokes, ischemic heart and other cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
He was of the view that K-P demands the lion’s share in the NFC award on the basis of revenue generated through tobacco crop and should shift its revenues from tobacco to other sources. He said tobacco is considered a cash crop but at the same time, it is causing food insecurity in these districts as it has replaced wheat and other staple crops.
“We have been convincing the farmers not to cultivate tobacco and instead go for alternative crops because replacement of tobacco with healthy food crops could feed up to 20 million people,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2014.
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This is a terrible idea. In a world where on the one hand we speak of liberalization, we are ready to strangle it with the other. Economically speaking, tobacco is probably the best crop to grow in that area. The farms there are so small that they are measured in yards (not acres as is the norm in the rest of the country). A lot of tobacco can be grown in a small area which benefits these small farmers. With the backward integration of companies like Pakistan Tobacco, the crop has improved over time bringing more money to the farmers. How do you plan to replace this crop that it will continue to bring benefit to the farmer. One shouldn't make decisions (or even suggest changes) until one is properly aware of the repercussions of a seemingly harmless or beneficial suggestion.
Tobacco is among the best crops, and unfortunately we just have cigarettes and bettle leaves made of it. It should be grown and should be placed in harmless routes instead of harmful elements.
@Umair: You must have trust in IK. He is not doing this for politics. He wants to get back what was stolen from us. He is fighting on our behalf. Our votes were changed. He is in Protest. But the KPK government at the same time is performing its duties effectively. IK is the hope for Pakistan in these dire times.
This is where i love Imran khan. These Dharna politics does not suits him :)