The Hindu Business Line : AP tobacco crop size to be fixed on July 28

Guntur, July 23 The Tobacco Board is holding a meet in Hyderabad on July 28 to fix the crop size for Andhra Pradesh for the 2007-2008 crop year, an annual customary exercise which seems to have little impact on farmers, as they grow as much crop as they want regardless of the punitive cess.

The Tobacco Board could earn Rs 20 crore during the current auctions which will officially conclude on July 25. But the cess is not proving to be much of a deterrent as the farmers could get a good price during the season.

The authorised crop during the current season (2006-2007) in Andhra Pradesh is 145.56 million kg, but the actual amount of crop sold on the floors till now is 169.02 million kg and it is likely to cross 172 million kg.

Price pattern

There has been a price rise on most of the 21 floors in the State in the range of Rs 2.50 to Rs 3.50. However, on the floors in the northern light soils in West Godavari, which grow the best tobacco in Andhra Pradesh, there has been a slight slump in average price from Rs 56.72 per kg to Rs 54.57 per kg.

The Tobacco Board is finding it difficult to regulate crop production in the State, as surpluses could prove disastrous when the international market is not so buoyant. When the prices are high, the punitive cess, which works out at Rs 8-9 per kg, does not bother the farmer.

During the current season, 4,500 farmers have paid the punitive cess of Rs 2 per kg in addition to 15 per cent of the auction value.

‘Reward discipline’

The Virginia Tobacco Growers’ Association is demanding that the punitive cess be distributed among the rest of the farmers who have shown discipline. The association argues that it is not enough to punish the errant farmer, but to reward the disciplined one in order to regulate the crop size.

In districts such as Prakasam, where the farmers had switched over to alternative crops like Bengal gram, farmers are now reverting to tobacco, enthused by the good prices during the past two seasons.