Allocate ₹300 crore to purchase produce from tobacco farmers, CPI(M) urges Andhra Pradesh government
The leaders of Communist Party of India (Marxist) have demanded that the state government allocate ₹300 crore to support tobacco farmers and purchase theIr produce through the State Trading Corporation of India Ltd. (STC), which is a government-owned international trading company, mainly for import and export operations.
The party State secretary V. Srinivasa Rao along with the members of Andhra Pradesh Farmers' Association visited Ongole-2 (Throvagunta) auction centre on Friday. He enquired about the auction management, the prices available in the market, and other issues with the farmers there. He was angry at the way the Tobacco Board and ITC were behaving with the farmers.
'The ITC company is controlling the farmers by not offering them the right price. The government should discuss with the traders and procure at least 25% of tobacco through the STC. If the government starts taking action, the companies will compete to purchase tobacco,' he said, questioning why ITC shares are rising despite the falling price of tobacco.
'As the tobacco prices were better during last year, the banks had given loans of ₹7.50 lakh per barn. This year, we have cultivated more area, but the yield was not good due to the rains, else we would have made profits. If the situation continues like this, we are at a risk of losing ₹4 lakh to ₹5 lakh per barn,' farmers Brahma Reddy, Polineni Adinarayana and others told to the CPI(M) leaders.
They further informed that the companies are buying good quality virginia tobacco at a price of ₹20,000 per quintal and they are not buying the low grade tobacco at all. The farmers are facing a loss of ₹7,500 per quintal when compared to previous year. The same quality tobacco was procured at ₹27,500 per quintal during last year.
The farmers have expressed their concern that it would be better to declare a crop holiday than to suffer these losses. They said that if the low grade tobacco was not purchased, they will not be able to recover. Auction management officer J. Tulsi discussed the procurement process and market prices with the representatives of ITC and other companies.
The auction officer said that foreign orders are likely to come in the next few weeks and low grade tobacco can be purchased very soon. The CPI(M) leaders reacted strongly to this issue and said that the promises have been made by every Minister, but none of them have been implemented till date.
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