To cut tobacco supply, govt looks at options….Abantika Ghosh
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in a concerted bid to cut the supply of tobacco, has written to the Agriculture and Commerce ministries to promote alternative crops among tobacco farmers. The move comes exactly 100 years after the British introduced tobacco as a cash crop in India.
At 0.37 million hectares, tobacco is cultivated on approximately 0.25% of the total land under cultivation in India, mostly in five states West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat. The total tobacco production in the country is 0.62 million tonnes of which most of the flue cured Virginia type cultivated in Andhra Pradesh is exported.
The ministry had also asked the Central Tobacco Research Institute (CTRI) in Rajamundry to initiate a project on alternative crops. The final report is on its way and once it is in, the ministry hopes to circulate it among the relevant ministries. Under Section 17 and 18 of the WHO Framework Convention On Tobacco Control, which India signed in 2003, the government is obliged to promote and support economically viable alternatives to tobacco cultivation.
Says Keshav Desairaju, additional secretary in the Health Ministry: We have written to both the Agriculture and the Commerce ministries because for tobacco the challenge is not just to provide economically viable alternatives but also provide a support system to the farmer because what keeps them in the tobacco business is also the support network provided by companies who give soft loans, provide facilities and often pay for the entire crop in advance.
While the Agriculture Ministry can pitch in on the support through cash incentives the Health Ministry has requested it to include alternative crops to tobacco in its support schemes for the 12th Five Year Plan and other facilities to make the transition easier for farmers the letter from the Health Secretary to the Secretary (Commerce) has asked for the intervention of the Tobacco Board in promoting alternatives. The Commerce Ministry has not responded but the Agriculture Ministry is believed to have hinted at a joint meeting after the Budget session of Parliament.
Alternatives cited by CTRI
* West Bengal: Mustard, wheat, maize, potatoes
* Tamil Nadu: Maize, sunflower, moinga+chilli
* Andhra Pradesh: Foxtail millet (urad bean), sunflower, pigeon pea
* Karnataka: Soyabean, sorghum
* Gujarat: Maize and paddy