Farmers in Prakasam district keep their fingers crossed as India is set to host the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP7) to WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) in 2016.
“'We want the world leaders to come out with recommendations to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products first and address the serious issue of providing sustainable alternative livelihoods to us,” some farmers coming under Ongole II auction platform told The Hindu.
Peasants representatives should be given due representation in the WHO-FCTC to plead their case before any decision is taken to phase out tobacco cultivation .
Having burnt their fingers by growing Bengal gram for three seasons due to import of cheaper pulse crop from abroad, the farmers have taken to tobacco cultivation in a big way this year. “We are eager to shift to other crops. But the Union and State governments are not showing a viable economic alternative to us,” says a Madala Ramanaiah, progressive farmer from Kandukur.
The Centre should come out with effective steps to curb the sale of contraband and counterfeit cigarettes, which contained cheaper tobacco grown elsewhere in the world, says another progressive farmer P. Venkateswarulu.
Illicit trade in cigarettes is as high as 17 billion sticks, around 20 per cent of the legal industry size, according to Indian Tobacco Association sources. Only 12 per cent of the tobacco consumption in India is through cigarette form and 88 per cent is in the form of bidis, cheroot and chewing forms.
While tobacco control regulations have been successful in reducing the legal cigarette consumption, in order to have a tangible impact on public health, regulations need to proactively address the non-cigarette and illicit trade sector, said progressive grower V.Prasad.
Thanks to unimaginative EXIM policy, there are no takers for export quality KAK II bengal gram variety grown extensively in Prakasam district, laments Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangam-led Kaulu Rythu Sangam State general secretary N.Ranga Rao.
The Centre should impose additional import duty on imported bengal gram and encourage ryots to grow bengal gram by providing additional subsidies on farm inputs, says former Tobacco Board member Ch. Ranga Rao.
Flue cured tobacco crop is cultivated in more than 85,000 ha under southern black soil and southern light soil in Ongole region by more than 35,000 farmers. It is 40 p.c of the country’s tobacco production of 270 million kg, according to Tobacco Board sources.
