Andhra Pradesh: Tobacco growers press for farmer-friendly insurance policies

Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA) on Friday expressed concern over excessive taxation, stringent laws, low crop manufacturing, lack of export incentives and the menace of smuggled cigarettes and urged coverage makers to take steps to reduce issues plaguing them.

The tobacco growers from Prakasam and Nellore districts attended a meet in Ongole on the event of the World Tobacco Growers Day on Friday.

Tobacco Board member and FAIFA Govt member Mareddy Subrahmanyeswara Reddy lamented that growers confronted losses to the tune of over ₹6,000 crore within the wake of a drop in Flue-Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco manufacturing, from 325 million kg in 2014-15 to 180 million kg in 2020-21.

Rising illicit cigarette commerce within the wake of upper and punitive taxation on home cigarettes added to their woes, he mentioned, including that illicit cigarette market in India had doubled from 13.5 billion sticks in 2006 to 30 billion sticks in 2021. Stringent measures to curb the menace was the necessity of the hour, he emphasised.

The affiliation’s vice-president Gadde Seshagiri Rao urged the Centre to assist FCV growers meet the worldwide requirements because the sector supplied direct and oblique employment to greater than 47.5 million folks. He pointed to research carried out by the Central Tobacco Analysis Institute (CTRI) that confirmed that there was no viable financial different to tobacco to farmers within the drought-prone area.

Its Basic Secretary Murali Babu mentioned although WHO’s Framework Conference on Tobacco Management (FCTC) pressured the necessity to steadiness socio-economic dependence of tobacco cultivation and tobacco management actions, anti-tobacco activists have been pushing coverage makers to take excessive selections with out giving due regard to the advisable stance of calibrated strategy to its cultivation and the wants of tobacco farming group.