India: Lack of Rainfall Worries Tobacco Growers

Source from:  The Hindu Online (in) 07/02/2012

Lack of rainfall in the tobacco-growing regions of the State, Mysore and Hassan districts in particular, has left growers worried even as they are smarting under the pressure of cutting down the crop size for 2012-13. The crop size for Karnataka was brought down to 98.57 million kg (mkg) from last year's 101.6 mkg. Growers are still hopeful of receiving good rainfall in the next few days, K.N. Vishakantaiah, regional manager, Tobacco Board, told The Hindu . The State had plans to grow tobacco on 80,000 hectares in the current season. After receiving good rainfall for a couple of days in May, there was no rain in the growing regions, Mr. Vishakantaiah said. He agreed that the adverse conditions were certain to affect the output. Karnataka had a little over 42,000 registered growers and around 57,000 barns. The fear that unregistered growers would add to the crop size would have to be assessed again in view of the prevailing drought, he said. Under pressure The present conditions had added to the woes of tobacco farmers who were required to cut down production by as much as 80 per cent by 2020. India is a signatory to the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to wipe out tobacco cultivation in a phased manner, Mr. Vishakantaiah said. Tobacco cultivation in the State, however, had grown in terms of area and productivity in the last five years. As against 57,000 registered barns (curing units) in the State, there were more than 40,000 unauthorised barns, according to an estimate provided by the Tobacco Board. An increase in demand for the product in the international market during 2007-08 and 2008-09 was responsible for the spurt in production in India. In 2010-11, the board fixed a production target of 100 mkg for the State, but against this, 128 mkg was produced. Alternatives The Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) had earlier appealed to the board to help tobacco growers cultivate alternative crops. The Department of Sericulture had sent a proposal to the board to consider sericulture as an alternative mode after phasing out tobacco cultivation. It is, however, yet to receive a favourable response from the board. The Federation of Karnataka Virginia Tobacco Growers' Association claimed that tobacco crop was the main source of livelihood for 70,000 farmers and over three lakh farm labourers in Mysore and Hassan districts. The crop had transformed the lives of farmers in these districts. The association felt that the livelihood of growers and their families, who depended on tobacco cultivation, would be in jeopardy, and it could even destroy the socio-economic fabric of the rural community in Mysore and Hassan districts. Enditem