The Tobacco Board is making all efforts to improve the quality of leaf tobacco exported from the country by educating the farmers to adopt good agricultural practices and also to promote Indian tobacco in the global markets, according to Tobacco Board Chairman K. Gopal.

He was addressing the members of the Indian Tobacco Association (ITA), the trade body, here on Monday morning at a meeting organised by the board to discuss measures to boost exports. He said record export of 2,66,038 tonnes of leaf tobacco and tobacco products had been achieved in 2013-14 valued at more than Rs 6,000 crore. The target was to achieve Rs 10,000 crore in the next few years.

Gopal said the Tobacco Board was making all efforts to reduce the pesticide residues in the crop and to reduce non-tobacco related material. "We are taking steps to make Indian tobacco competitive by increasing the productivity and quality with the assistance of institutes such as the Central Tobacco Research Institute (CTRI) and farmers are also now more aware of the importance of grading at the field level," he said.

A special bulletin on the Karnataka FCV tobacco was released on the occasion. Tobacco Board Executive Director C.V Subba Rao explained the steps taken by the board to find new markets for Indian tobacco abroad and the follow-up action on various problems faced by the tobacco trade.

Indian Tobacco Association president M. Umamaheswara Rao thanked the Tobacco Board for its initiatives to promote Indian tobacco exports and assured the board that the trade would co-operate with it in all its endeavours.

sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in

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