India: Tobacco Farmers Find Better Alternative in Pulse Crops

Source from:  The Hindu 05/12/2016

Pulse crops, particularly Bengal gram and red gram, prove to be a better alternative for farmers in Prakasam district who have been traditionally growing tobacco.

If the present lacklustre market for tobacco, the principal commercial crop in the district, continues in the wake of the larger pictorial warning enforced by the Central government from April 1, more farmers will switch over to protein-rich pulse crops even if the Centre dilly-dallied on coming out with a financial package to show the farmers a sustainable economic alternative as suggested by the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) while taking steps to phase out tobacco cultivation.

With the Tobacco Board cutting down the crop size for Andhra Pradesh from 172 million kg to 120 million kg, farmers took to cultivation of Bengal gram, both local and exportable varieties, in a record 92,000 hectares in the drought-prone district during the last rabi, explains Agriculture Joint Director J. Muralikrishna to The Hindu.

Farmers spend on an average Rs. 20,000 per acre to grow the pulse crops and by adopting better agronomic practices got an average yield of four to five quintals per acre, he adds. Even as tobacco growers rued over the market slide in the wake of the larger pictorial warning even though they stuck to the crop size fixed by the crop regulator, Bengal gram growers have made a kill with the price of the local variety crossing the Rs. 5,700 mark per quintal as against Rs. 3,000 per quintal two years ago and export quality KAK-II and Mexican bold verities touching Rs. 7,500 and Rs. 10,000 per quintal respectively.

Farmers in the drought-prone district have also taken up red gram cultivation in 77,000 hectares and made handsome gains with the market price ruling at a high of Rs. 10,000 per quintal thanks to the country-wide shortage of pulses.

No option

"If the present trend continues, farmers will have no option but to quit tobacco cultivation altogether during this year and go for pulse crops including black gram, red gram and Bengal gram in a big way," say farmers in the Podili region.

"I am able to purchase an acre of land with the super profit made from growing red gram," discloses Sangala Venkateswarlu, a farmer from Podili, who grew red gram in five acres spending Rs. 1 lakh to get an equal amount as profit by selling 20 quintals of the produce.

Farmers, who have been traditionally growing tobacco in Ongole and its surroundings, have realised that Bengal gram, is the better bet given the local demand for pulses than tobacco, the market price of which is determined more by global market condition, says M. Bangarababu, a progressive farmer who harvested nine quintals of Bengal gram during the rabi season. Enditem