Billion tree tsunami to lose 25% to tobacco roasting
(WorldNews Pakistan)

Islamabad : While tobacco farming itself is depleting forestland with an approximately 470 square kilometre area under tobacco cultivation, its roasting/curing for manufacturing of cigarettes is playing further havoc with the country’s annual firewood production. According to the Pakistan Tobacco Board—a legal entity under the Federal Ministry of Food Security—there are 35,000 barns in the country to roast 106 million kilograms of tobacco produced annually. Each barn consumes at least 1,000 kilograms (1 ton) of firewood in each roasting cycle lasting 8-10 days, completing a minimum of 10 cycles after each...