Growers' Group Seeks Smaller Crop Target

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 08/30/2012

The leaders of a farmers' group in Andhra Pradesh wants the Tobacco Board of India to reduce the state's flue-cured crop target for the 2012-13 season, according to a story in the Hindu relayed by the TMA. Leaders of Telugu Rythu, a group affiliated to the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra, has questioned why the board fixed the crop size at 170 million kg when the Tobacco Production Committee had recommended a crop of 162 million kg. They are concerned that the 'inflated' crop size will depress leaf prices. Leaders of the farmers' group and the party said the party would launch a massive campaign if the board did not lower the crop size to protect the interests of leaf growers. They said that health activists across the world were calling for measures to cut down on leaf cultivation, and that the board had been asking growers to reduce leaf production so as to encourage better prices. They also called for foreign direct investment in the domestic tobacco sector, which they said would benefit growers significantly. Enditem