Board for cut in tobacco production

The Tobacco Board and the Indian Tobacco Association (ITA) are planning to bring down the production limit for the next season, in the wake of agitation by tobacco growers for a remunerative price this season.

A senior member of ITA said they were planning to write to the Board, suggesting crop size limitation for the next season. “This might take a couple of weeks, but we want to place our views on record and avoid controversies for the next season,” the ITA representative said. ITA representatives, who have been holding talks with growers and board officials on the price for the past 15 days following agitation in Prakasam district, have initially decided to request the board to cut the crop size to 100 million kg in Andhra Pradesh for the 2011-12 season.

The Board has been allowing 170 million kg production in Andhra Pradesh for the past three seasons. Though it permitted 170 million kg this year, the production has come down to 160 million kg due to rain in December 2010. Even this has not helped support the price in the market as excess production is available in the international market. Brazil and Zimbabwe have increased their production, eating the export demand from India.

Moreover, the tobacco produced from southern black soils (SBS), northern black soils (NBS) and central black soils (CBS) is not preferred for cigarette manufacturing, which is why there is no demand for the product from these areas.

The crop in the SBS and southern light soils (SLS), spread over Prakasam and Nellore districts, is losing its quality due to weather conditions and also the agricultural practices. In fact, the problem between the growers and the traders in Prakasam district, where the auctions were closed in 11 platforms, created unrest in the market.

Board chairman G Kamalavardhana Rao and executive director C V Subba Rao, have been in contact with traders, particularly the representatives of ITA to resolve the dispute in the SLS and SBS areas.

The crop had no problem from the NBS in Khammam, northern light soils (NLS) in West Godavari and CBS in Krishna district this season as the auctions went off smoothly. The quality of the crop was good in these parts, when compared with SBS and SLS in Prakasam district, the board chairman had said.