Guntur, April 04: Tobacco farmers of Guntur and Prakasam districts have threatened to boycott auctions if the Tobacco Board fails to ensure remunerative price for their produce when auctions resume on April 5.
Reacting to the announcement made by Tobacco Board chairman Kamalavardhana Rao that auctions would resume on April 5 at all the platforms, the farmers demanded that the board ensure remunerative price for their produce in the wake of slump in its prices in recent weeks. The steep fall in the price of tobacco from Rs 125 to Rs 80 per kg (superior quality) was attributed to formation of syndicates bybuyers.
Tobacco Farmers Association honorary president Yalamanchili Sivaji demanded that the Tobacco Board protect the interests of farmers by purchasing tobacco with the penalty collected from ryots for growing the crop in excess area. The Tobacco Farmers Association would continue its agitation if the board failed to intervene and stabilise the prices, he said.
Tobacco Board former vicechairman V Badrireddy and former MLAs D Sivaram and E Haribabu threatened to intensify the agitation if the board failed to ensure remunerative price to farmers for their produce.
Ryot leaders leaders G Subbaiah and R Venkateswarlu said only 5 million kg of tobacco was purchased at the auction centres thoughthe auctions commenced 40 days ago. It was unfortunate that the Tobacco Board was not empowered to fix the price of tobacco considering the increase in cultivation costs of the commercial crop. As a result, tobacco farmers are at the mercy of traders. The Tobacco Board is collecting a 15 per cent fine from farmers if they raise crop in area more than permitted by it. Prakasam district produces 120 million kg of tobacco as the total acreage of the crop is 72,000 hectares. The total tobacco production in the state is 170 million kg.
According to Nagaboina Ranga Rao, a ryot leader, the average cultivation cost of tobacco per kg is Rs 165. Farmers will get back their investment if the average yield is 10 quintals per acre leave alone reaping profits from the commercial crop, he said.
–Agencies