Tobacco bodies appeal for urgent rescue package for farmers

NEW DELHI: Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA), a non-profit organization representing farmers and farm workers of commercial crops across the States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat on Monday appealed to the government to save their livelihoods in the current pandemic as the demand for the crop has weakened due to declining volumes of cigarettes and other tobacco products as a result of prolonged lockdowns.
FCV tobacco farming community is undergoing severe stress to sell their harvest and also to cope up with mounting labor and infrastructure charges due to interruption to auctions due to the lockdown. Nearly 130 million kg of Flue Cured Tobacco worth around Rs 1,700 crores is waiting to be sold, causing quality loss under prolonged storage, according to FAIFA.
The Gujarat famers, whose tobacco produce is used in the making of bidi’s and other tobacco products are also struggling, FAIFA said. More than 330 million kgs of tobacco worth Rs 2700 crore is lying in the open fields as the traders are not ready to pick-up the produce because government has banned the sale of tobacco products.
The rains are expected in coming days and if the government will not start the sale of tobacco products both traders and farmers will go bankrupt. In Gujarat, tobacco is produced in several districts such as Anand, Kheda, Vadodara, Panchmahal, Banaskantha, and Sabarkantha.
Javare Gowda, president, Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA), said, “We request the government to immediately start the auctions in all the Tobacco Auction platforms. The government should also direct the Tobacco Board and other concerned officials to coordinate with FCV Tobacco Manufacturers, exporters and traders to facilitate reasonable prices (pre-covid market prices) for FCV tobacco produce at the auctions in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.”
“As FCV tobacco farmers’ are undergoing severe financial crisis, we request the Government of India to immediately sanction a compensation amount of Rs 25,000 each to all registered FCV tobacco growers for survival.”