Even as farmers and the Tobacco Board are hoping to reap a rich dividend during the auctions, the anti-tobacco activists are crying foul over the continued patronage for tobacco crop instead of taking measures to reduce its supply and demand as per the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
“Ministry of Commerce/Tobacco Board, Tobacco Research Institute and Tobacco industry representatives are adopting highly aggressive methods to increase the quality and quantity of tobacco in this belt of the district. This is in gross violation of the FCTC protocol,” said Vasanthkumar Mysoremath.
India is a signatory to the World Health Organisation’s FCTC, which seeks to establish a global agenda for tobacco control and reduce demand and supply by 2020.
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Mr. Mysoremath alleged that elected representatives were forgetting their oath of office and openly taking part in tobacco-related events.
He said it was the responsibility of the Government of India to come up with an alternative crop for tobacco farmers so that they can give up on tobacco cultivation.
“What we see is that the quantity of tobacco and the area of land under tobacco cultivation is increasing despite India’s commitment to FCTC,” he said.
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But Javare Gowda, president of flue-cured-variety of Tobacco Growers’ Federation of Karnataka, said tobacco was found to be one of the best cash crops.
Citing good crop of tobacco this year despite a dry spell followed by prolonged rains, Mr. Gowda said no alternative for tobacco has been found yet.
Though there are only 70,000 tobacco growers, the industry provides jobs to two lakh people, either directly or indirectly, Mr. Gowda said and added that banks were also very lenient in extending loans to tobacco farmers.
He said there was a lot of opposition to the FCTC from other tobacco-growing countries.
Regional Manager of Tobacco Board, Mysore, Y. Venugopal said about 70 per cent of the tobacco grown in the State, particularly in Mysore region, was export quality bringing valuable foreign exchange.
Awaiting directions
When asked about FCTC, he said the Board was awaiting directions from the head office, but was presently engaged in guiding farmers on the best practices of tobacco cultivation.