Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited (PMPKL) and Alliance One International (AOI) – a global leader in agricultural industry – met with Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood, Adviser for Commerce, Textile, Industry & Production and Investment on Tuesday, 25th June’ 2019.
In a bid to boost country’s export and support the Government’s efforts to reduce illicit trade, PMPKL presented a roadmap to Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood whereby the agronomy support can be expanded to a wider farmer base. The company stated a multitude of benefits through this initiative; an increase in farmer’s earnings due to better tobacco yield and quality, better standard of living and agronomy support to produce other food crops. PMPKL believes this initiative will increase the demand for Pakistani tobacco in the international market and support the Government to earn additional revenues.
As per the officially available statistics, Pakistan has a total base of 50,000-60,000 farmers and the total production of tobacco leaf is around 70-75 million kg. The legal industry has contracts with around 60-65% of the total farmer base and provides end-to-end agronomy support to ensure the right quality, by providing imported hybrid seed for higher and better quality yield, curing barn upgrades and balanced fertilizers. The remaining 35-40% farmer are non-contracted and produce low-quality tobacco leaf which is not useable by the legal industry and not acceptable under international market standards. It is believed that this quantity is sold illegally in the country and used by illicit manufacturers.
The delegation was led by Joao Martins, Managing Director PMPKL, Khurram M. Qamar, Director External Affairs PMPKL, Farley Weigel, Director Leaf Asia PMI and representatives of AOI included Santiago Wuscovi and Craig McDougal.
