Ongole: Tobacco ryots oppose Centre's proposal on contract farming

Ongole: The tobacco farmers in Prakasam and Nellore districts oppose the proposal of the Union government to introduce contract farming in the name of adding buoyancy in trading the Flu Cured Virginia (FCV) Tobacco.

Earlier prior to 1985, the tobacco farmers were at the mercy of the tobacco companies and had to sell the bales at the price they were offered by traders. There were many instances when some of the companies did not pay for years or cheated the farmers in the name of cheap quality, etc.

To facilitate fair sale of the Flue-Cured Virginia tobacco, the Central government established the Tobacco Board in 1976, but the decision on the prices was at the mercy of the merchants only. In 1983, the farmers agitated for a supportive price at Tanguturu village in Prakasam district, and three of them were killed while three others were severely injured when police opened fire.

The then tobacco farmers' leader and board vice-president B V Sivaiah convinced Union Minister Kotta Raghuramaiah, board chairman Mahapatra and executive director Bapureddy to introduce the auction mechanism in the board. With the introduction of the auction system, the farmers were assured of correct weight, timely payments, loans through banks, fertilisers and pesticides on subsidy through the board.

Secretary and joint secretary of the Department of Commerce, BVR Subrahmanyam and Divakar Nath Mishra, attended the recent meeting of the Tobacco Board held in Guntur. After the meeting, the farmers received an update that the Union government was mulling introduction of contract farming in tobacco, in order to end the monopoly and ensure a level playing field.

The farmers were also told that the export value of tobacco was gradually decreasing every year, right from 661.59 million USD in 2015-16 to 519.71 million USD in 2020-21. To encourage the use of local tobacco, the government officers suggested introducing FDIs to manufacture cigarettes locally, but to export to other countries.

The tobacco traders in the State organised a meeting in Ongole last month, demanding that the government end the monopoly in the market and welcome FDIs in cigarette manufacturing, airing views similar to what the officials had discussed earlier.

But, the farmers, who need to get the money for the hard work fear contract farming. Mareddy Subbareddy, tobacco farmers' leader in Ongole, said that the tobacco farmers were facing a crisis for the last few years and struggling for existence.

He said that last year also they had suffered losses due to the delay in auction in view of the Covid-19 pandemic situation. Now, the proposal to introduce contract farming snatches the right to auction the leaf for the price they are satisfied, he pointed out.

If the farmers are forced to be part of the contract farming, he feared that the companies will pay the price at their will and there will be nothing for the farmer to question. He opined that the Central government was trying to implement contract farming to make profits for the corporate companies in the name of helping the farmers.