Production of tobacco, a sunset crop, has drastically come down in Andhra Pradesh in the last 10 years. But the farmers have not been able to take advantage of the reduction in crop size by about 100 million kg, thanks to domestic cigarette manufacturers and exporters who give inflated crop requirement at the time of fixing of crop size and shy away from the e-auction centres on the pretext they have not got confirmed orders from overseas buyers.
“We do not want to slog as captive growers any longer,” asserted YSR Congress Party farmers wing Prakasam district president Mareddy Subba Reddy at a meeting of farmer representatives from the 12 SLS and SBS auction platforms here on Tuesday ahead of the Tobacco Board meeting on August 21 to decide the crop size for the 2019-20 cropping season.
The Tobacco Board should also recommend to the Centre to provide a compensation of ₹10 lakh to the farmers who agree to dismantle the tobacco barns and quit its cultivation.
“Those willing to quit tobacco cultivation on a permanent basis should be compensated for dismantling barns,” Tobacco Farmers’ Association president in Kandukur T. Ramanaiah said.
The traders, who submit indents, should announce a minimum guaranteed price (MGP) so that farmers could take a well-informed decision whether to grow tobacco during coming rabi, said Ongole II Farmers’ Association president V.V. Prasad.
Insurance premium
“We expect 10% more over the three-year average price for various grades of tobacco,” Tobacco Board member G. Konda Reddy added.
The Tobacco Board, flush with funds thanks to collection of huge penalties from farmers for violation of crop size, should come forward to pay insurance premium on their behalf, said former Tobacco Board member P. Bhadri Reddy.
‘Lift curbs’
The restriction of 20 km for shifting of barns should be removed to enable an unwilling farmer to transfer to another farmer without any problem, said a farmer leader from Kaligiri R. Srikanth.
