Tobacco Farmers' Dreams go up in Smoke

Source from:  SWATI BHARADWAJ-CHAND TIMES NEWS NETWORK 05/18/2005

For decades, the people of this region have been eating and breathing this heady stuff. After all, tobacco has been the raison d'etre of the Charotar Patels, giving them their much-envied prosperity and clout. But today, the famed golden leaf is losing its lustre. Says a disenchanted tobacco grower from Samarkha, Premanand Patel, "It is no longer lucrative for small farmers which is why I have decided to explore other alternatives this year." He is not alone. The signs are everywhere — in the growing disenchantment of growers with the diminishing returns, in the lack of guaranteed payment thanks to a total failure of the co-operative structure and in the increasing dominance of wily tobacco merchants. "Last year, I sold my crop for Rs 445 per 20 kg. But this year, it has fetched me only Rs 300 per 20 kg. I am still waiting for half of last year's payment as the trader has vanished," says Ismail Vora. Vora, who owns 1 acre and leases out another 2.5 acres, has made up his mind to switch to paddy this year as it will not only save him the wait for money but also mean fewer expenses. Today, farmers here would rather grow banana, chicory, bajra, groundnut and vegetables as they give assured returns. When they grow tobacco, they are at the mercy of traders who more often than not pay either partially even in cash deals or in instalments that begin only one to one-and-a-half years after taking possession of the crop. This perhaps explains why land under tobacco cultivation has been shrinking in Gujarat from 1,10,600 hectares in 1998-99 to 66,400 hectares in 2002-03 as per estimates of the Directorate of Tobacco Development. "Due to the stigma of cancer attached to tobacco use and health awareness, the governments at the Centre and state have not been encouraging tobacco cultivation," explains GC Jadeja of the Bidi Tobacco Research Station (BTRS) at the Gujarat Agricultural University. The BTRS, adds AD Patel, a tobacco research scientist, has been asked to actively explore alternate uses of tobacco as pesticides, cardiovascular drugs, oil for soap and paint industries and proteins, among others. A burgeoning demand for gutkha, in which tobacco is one of the many ingredients, too, has dealt bidi consumption a big blow. The Charotar cultivated non-Virginia varieties are used in bidis, and almost 80 per cent of this comes from Gujarat. "My village alone consumes Rs 7,000 worth of gutkha daily as opposed to Rs 1,000 worth of bidi," says Jayram Patel of Morad village. Enditem