Tobacco farmers rue lack of remunerative price

Ongole: The fate of tobacco farmers nowadays is at bay. Scorching summer challenges them to keep their produce at saleable condition for a long period and compels them to sell a bale of tobacco at minimum price.
After receiving the indent from exporters and manufacturers, the Tobacco board officials had asked the farmers to produce millions of kilograms of tobacco. Now they are perplexed as the buyers have not turned up to that extent.
Virginia Tobacco was once a commercial crop that yielded money to the farmers. Situations changed with the passage of time as the number of registered farmers and acres of land producing this fancy crop increased. With plenty of supply, the market price gets reduced.
Now the weather has started to challenge the farmers’ very existence. Last year, nearly 190 million kilograms of tobacco was produced in the State when the Tobacco Board asked the farmers to cultivate only 172 million kilograms. Finally the farmers were blamed for their greediness by board and govt officials. Even they claimed that the tobacco had low quality. The Southern black and light soil farmers in Prakasam, Guntur and Nellore districts faced enough loss than northern farmers in both Godavari districts. As the tobacco produced in northern soils is qualitatively higher, farmers in both Godavari districts earn better compared to farmers of Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts.
The board permitted only 120 million kilograms of tobacco production this year. The southern zone farmers produced 83 out of 85 million kilograms quota, while northern farmers produced 43 against 35 million kilograms. Now tobacco auction is going on, but the farmers are getting low price though the production is less than the permissible amount in southern zone.
Abburi Srinu, a farmer from Managamuru in Prakasam district expressed dissatisfaction with the board decision while waiting for selling his produce at Ongole 1 auction centre. Blaming the ITC for the dwindling market price as there is no competitor, Srinu said, “Farmers are the worst victim as they have to sell quality produce at Rs 20 per kg only. While exporters are making profit, farmers are committing suicides failing to meet both ends.”
Exporting companies like PTP, GPI, Ethnic and Deccan tobacco had already declared that they did not receive orders from companies abroad. A tobacco board official said, “Exporters need it during February and March, but the farmers cannot supply by that time. As there is a gap of four to five months in the production and auction period, foreign companies cancel their orders. It benefits the local manufacturers to play with the farmers.”
The Tobacco board allows the farmers to produce certain amount, based on the indent from the manufacturers and exporters during crop fixation period in July every year. Farmers produce the crop expecting that their entire volume will be sold, which hardly happens.
N Rama Rao, a farmer from P Takkellapadu said, “Earlier, companies used to give Minimum Guarantee Price to the board which they stopped for few years. The board has no right to ask them to purchase whole volume. Cheated by both the companies and inefficient mechanism, farmers end up lives with burden of loans.”
Pammi Badri Reddy, former Vice Chairman of the Tobacco board and also a farmer said, “We are ready to shift to alternate crops. But investments worth several lakhs have been made in constructing barns and getting licenses for farming tobacco. If the government will pay compensation, we shall voluntarily stop this production.” Promises made by the Ministers and the Tobacco board have never been implemented, he added.
G Bhaskar Reddy, Regional Manager of SBS at Ongole said, “The In charge Chairman of the Tobacco board Manoj Kumar Dwivedi; Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce; the board officials and executives from the exporters and manufacturing companies met few days back to discuss the problems. Companies asked the farmers to wait until they receive the orders. Though the board officials tried to persuade them, there was no positive outcome. We are trying our best so that the farmers will get best price and meet the companies again to motivate them towards purchasing.”

Naresh Nandam