KP's tobacco fields shrink to half in four years

ISLAMABAD: The tobacco fields in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have shrunk to its half in merely four years, revealed Shahid Rasheed Butt, the former president of Chambers of Commerce Islamabad.   

He stated this while speaking to leaders of the trade community. The imposition of frequent taxes on tobacco crops and other issues may result in the downfall of this sector, Butt said.

“If this issue continues, then the agriculture and industries of the terrorism-stricken province would be at a loss and hundreds of people will become jobless.”

He stressed that already four industries in the KP have shut down, “their number must not increase,” Butt pleaded.

Drawing attention on the discriminatory attitude of the provincial and the federal government, he said the matter of putting a tax on the agriculture income was never taken seriously, while tobacco crops spread on 46,000 hectors of land face the repeated levies.