India:''State Government Should Identify Alternative Crops for Tobacco Growers''

Source from:  The Hindu 11/24/2015

The onus of identifying alternative crops for tobacco growers lies with the State government, said Rajani Ranjan Rashmi, Additional Secretary to Department of Commerce, New Delhi.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the International Pepper Community's (IPC) 43{+r}{+d}annual conference here on Monday, Mr. Rashmi said the Tobacco Board, which comes under the Union Ministry of Commerce, will control the purchase of tobacco from the growers.

Remunerative crops

But, the State government should help the growers in identifying alternative remunerative crops. The Agriculture Department should carry out necessary research in the direction," he said.

When asked whether Tobacco Board would reduce the crop size to meet India's obligation to halve tobacco production by 2020, in accordance with the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC), Mr. Rashmi said there were five more years to go and necessary steps will be taken in due course of time. "It is a sensitive issue concerning the livelihood of growers," he said.

Import duty

Reacting to the sericulture farmers' protest against the Union government's decision to decrease the import duty on silk from 15 per cent to 10 per cent, Mr. Rashmi initially said the matter pertained to the Union Ministry of Textiles, but later added that the government was made aware of the matter when his attention was drawn to Union Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar's recent statement in Mysuru that he would discuss the issue with the Commerce Ministry. However, he said industry and producers will be at variance with certain decisions of the government pertaining to increasing or decreasing the duty on certain commodities. Enditem