Tobacco farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the two major States that produce the FCV (Flue Cured Virginia) tobacco, have opposed the government’s move to introduce contract farming in the regulated FCV tobacco farming.

Growers’ bodies allege that introduction of contract farming will have adverse impact on the livelihoods of farmers.

Stating that the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in heavy losses to them, they said the introduction of contract farming will further aggravate their problems.

Representatives of Virginia Tobacco Growers Association, Federation of Karnataka Virginia Tobacco Growers Association, Kondapi Tobacco Growers Association and Kaligiri FCV Tobacco Growers Association have issued a joint statement to protest against the government’s move.

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“Contract farming is no match to our transparent auction system, which ensures fair pricing for FCV tobacco. In fact, this system has enabled even a small and marginal FCV tobacco farmers to realise better price for their produce,” Gadde Seshagiri Rao, Ex-Vice-Chairman, Tobacco Board, said.

“We believe that this is being pushed by a handful of players who are misguiding the policy-makers for their own interest and jeopardising the interests of the larger tobacco farming community,” he said.

Backdoor entry

The associations alleged that the foreign tobacco multinationals, who are witnessing tepid sales in global markets and are prohibited as per Indian FDI regulations to invest in India, are trying to get a backdoor entry by pushing for contract farming.

The contract farming in tobacco sector will only benefit unscrupulous tobacco buyers as farmers will be made to sign contracts without understanding them.

“FCV contract farming will take us into the pre-1984 era of exploitation and negatively impact the Indian farming community. We must protect the existing auction system which is reliable and supports even the smallest of the farmers with the right price discovery mechanism,” Javare Gowda of Federation of Karnataka Virginia Tobacco Growers Association said.

They expressed disappointment over the silence of the Tobacco Board. Despite being fully aware of the likely detrimental effect of contract farming on FCV tobacco farmers’ livelihood, the Board did not oppose the idea of contract farming, they said.

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