India Resolved to Reduce Leaf Production

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 08/27/2010

India's Commerce Minister, Anand Sharma, has reiterated the government's commitment to discouraging tobacco growing by steering farmers towards alternative crops or enterprises, according to a Press Trust of India story. Currently, flue-cured tobacco, which is India's main export type and which is the only type to be under the direction of the ministry's Tobacco Board, is consistently produced in greater quantities than the targets set by the Board; so Sharma had to concede that it would take some time to shift growers away from tobacco. In the meantime, he said, the government was taking all measures to protect the interests of tobacco farmers, for which a number of welfare schemes had been initiated. In an apparent reference to India's obligations under the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Sharma said it was India's international commitment to decrease the use of tobacco. Enditem