Tobacco farmers should not lose heart and take their lives, as the Union Government and the State Government will do everything possible to help them in the present market crisis, according to Nirmala Seetharaman, the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry.

She visited the tobacco auction floor here and at other places in the Prakasam district on Friday to apprise herself of the situation. She later visited the families of the tobacco farmers who committed suicide and consoled their families. She said roughly 30 million kgs of the 172 million kgs of authorised crop needed to be sold in Andhra Pradesh and all efforts would be made to complete the auctioning of the authorised crop by the end of the month. The auctioning of the unauthorised crop, or surplus, would be taken up in October.

She appealed to the farmers not to take the extreme step of suicide, as the crisis in the tobacco market was caused by the slack demand in the international market.

Especially, there was a problem with the low-grade tobacco which was fetching low prices on the auction floors making it unremunerative for the farmers.

Y.V. Subba Reddy, the Ongole member of Parliament, met the minister and appealed to her to take immediate steps to rescue the farmers. The low grade tobacco was not even fetching Rs 65 per kg and the problem should be addressed.

When the farmers expressed dissatisfaction that the minister had not made any specific promise, she said she would discuss the issue with the Chief Minister and come out with concrete proposals. 

sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in

comment COMMENT NOW