Call for Crop Holiday Gathers Pace

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 09/01/2011

More tobacco growers in Andhra Pradesh are joining the ranks of those calling for a crop holiday during the coming season, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter. The growers say that they are being forced to resort to this extreme tactic because of lack of government support, crop damage due to natural disasters and poor prices. The renewed call by the growers for a crop holiday seems to have come at a time when, according to a story in The Hindu Businessline, the chairman of the Tobacco Board, G Kamala Vardhana Rao, was announcing that the Indian Tobacco Association had agreed to buy 140 million kg in Andhra during the 2011-12 season, up from the 120 million kg to which it had previously pledged itself. But even the latest figure is well down on the 170 million kg of the 2010-11 season. In one sense, a crop holiday will simply play into the hands of the buyers, who are faced with a glut of flue-cured, though it might have the effect of boosting prices slightly in 2012-13. But clearly there is no point in the growers producing tobacco if they have to sell it at below the cost of production. Enditem