“Show us an alternative commercial crop and we will slowly stop producing tobacco,” is the plaintive refrain that an estimated one-lakh tobacco farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and parts of Telangana have to say, to the Government of India.
Over the decades, those dependent on tobacco and allied industries for a livelihood number about 4.5 crore in the country, according to the Vice-Chairman of the Tobacco Board G. Seshagiri Rao. “Over a period of time, tobacco has taken us on the growth path, given farmers and others a livelihood. If farmers have to stop cultivating tobacco, they need to be shown a viable, alternative crop,” says Mr. Rao, who is a farmer himself. “Usually, I raise tobacco on 42 acres, but the last season, I used only 30 acres because already there is a huge pile-up of FCV (Flue Cured Virginia) tobacco due to fluctuating buying by domestic manufacturers and poor demand from global buyers. There is an estimated Rs. 1,200 crore worth of unsold tobacco crop in these states alone with farmers having a whopping Rs. 700 crore of bank loans to repay,” he says.
The Federation of All India Farmer Associations, a body that represents the farming community (FAIFA) on Monday said that farm distress was mounting with the continued closure of tobacco products manufacturing plants, primarily cigarettes. Following the Centre’s notification that 85 per cent of the cigarette pack should contain pictorial warning with the words ‘Smoking Kills’, cigarette manufacturers, including ITC, Godfrey Phillips India and Vazir Sultan Tobacco have stopped producing cigarettes since April 1.
“Pull us out of tobacco, but gradually. About 25 million kg of tobacco is coming into the country in the form of imported cigarettes. And while the packs of imported cigarettes do not contain a pictorial warning, they do not pay any tax either,” points out FAIFA Executive Member K. Vasudeva Rao, who has about 18 acres under tobacco at Aswaraopet in Khammam district.
Loss of revenue
Besides the loss of about Rs. 9,000 crore in the form of revenues, foreign interests and smuggled cigarettes spelt doom for millions of tobacco farmers because the contraband cigarettes do not use Indian tobacco, said FAIFA Chief Consultant P. Udhay Khumar. “FAIFA appeals to the industry to resume production of tobacco products, while pleading with the government to withdraw the larger graphic health Warnings on the products and restore normalcy. Mr. Seshagiri Rao wanted the Centre to implement the Parliamentary Committee recommendations that pictorial warning could occupy 50 per cent of the pack.
“But instead of a accepting the committee’s recommendation, the Centre decided to go for 85 per cent. This increase will be detrimental to the livelihoods of farmers,” he lamented.
Large pictorial warning norm has dealt a death blow to the trade,
they say
