Tobacco Farmers Fear Threat to Livelihood

Source from:  The Hindu 03/12/2009

MUMBAI: It isn't just cigarette smokers who will feel the impact of Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss's plans to curb smoking; tobacco farmers fear their livelihoods will be threatened by the government's plans to impose further restrictions on smoking and limit tobacco production. [b]India's commitment[/b] Mr. Ramadoss said on Monday that India was committed to reducing tobacco production by 50 per cent by 2020 in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. There are an estimated 35 million people who either directly or indirectly earn their livelihoods by growing tobacco, according to the Consortium of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA). Farmers' groups say the government has failed to take into account their interests and not found ways to help them make the transition away from tobacco and find suitable alternative crops to grow. Concerned farmers' groups from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka made a trip to Mumbai on Sunday to voice their concern to Mr. Ramadoss at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health that is now being held in the city, but said they were prevented from attending the conference as they had not paid the registration fees. "All we want is the government to hear what we have to say, and help us come out with alternative crops that give farmers equal income," said P. Chengal Reddy, CIFA secretary general. "The World Health Organisation has promised us that all stakeholders will be consulted, but the government has made no effort to involve farmers in the process." Mr. Ramadoss said the government had allocated Rs. 1,000 crore for a scheme to encourage farmers to grow medicinal plants instead of tobacco. The farmers' groups said his suggestion failed to take into account the ground realities that determined the limits of agriculture. "It is a basic fact that you have to grow crops that are suitable to a specific climate and land," Mr. Reddy said. "You cannot just grow medicinal crops anywhere. We are talking about half a million acres of land in this situation, with different lands with different utilities. It is a complicated situation with no easy solution." G. Sivaram Prasad, a farmer from Guntur and general secretary of the Tobacco Farmers Federation, said efforts to move away from tobacco to other crops saw farmers incurring significant losses. "In Prakasam [Andhra Pradesh], farmers made the switch to Bengal gram in 2000 when there was heavy surplus in tobacco," Mr. Prasad said. "But they lost a lot of money. The prices of gram crashed when the government subsequently decided to impose an export ban. There is no connect between government policies and our realities." He said farmers could, at best, only make 20 per cent of the revenues they take home from growing tobacco from other food crops. With rising tobacco prices, farmers are all the more reluctant to move away from what has in recent years become a lucrative crop, particularly in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Mr. Prasad said prices rose by more than 100 per cent last year in Andhra Pradesh, from Rs. 40 a kg to Rs. 88. In Karnataka, prices rose from Rs. 60 to Rs. 110. "Farmers make six times more growing tobacco so there needs to be some incentive in place for farmers to switch to alternative crops," Mr. Reddy said. "That is all we are asking for." Enditem