Forty Per Cent of Growers Vote With Their Feet

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 09/27/2011

Nearly 40 per cent of Japan's tobacco farmers intend to stop growing tobacco, according to a Mainichi Daily News story quoting figures from a survey by the Japan Tobacco Growers' Association. In the face of declining cigarette sales, the farmers have responded to a recent offer of compensation by Japan Tobacco Inc to those willing to stop production. The association, through its 21 member associations across Japan, surveyed 10,650 tobacco growers farming 13,930 ha and found that 4,106, or 38.6 per cent, planned to stop cultivation. The 4,106 growers currently cultivate 4,412 ha, equivalent to more than 30 per cent of the total area under tobacco. Last month, JT, which is legally obligated to buy all of the tobacco produced by domestic growers, offered ￥280,000 per 0.1 ha in compensation for those willing to stop production. In Fukushima Prefecture, where planting has already been suspended due to the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, 488 growers, the largest by prefecture, will cease cultivation, followed by 457 in Iwate Prefecture and 435 in Miyazaki Prefecture. Enditem