Pratap Simha, Mysuru-Kodagu MP, urged Union Minister for Commerce and Industry and Consumer Affairs Piyush Goyal to permit the sale of tobacco produced by unauthorised tobacco growers in Karnataka from the beginning of the auction with nil penalties during the 2023-24 crop season.
According to the MP, flue-cured tobacco is the major commercial crop cultivated in the Mysuru region. Around 40,000 authorised and 11,000 unregistered farmers are cultivating the crop in the region for their livelihood.
In a memorandum to the Minister, Mr. Simha, who met Mr. Goyal in New Delhi, said Karnataka tobacco growers have suffered partial or complete crop loss due to the delayed onset of monsoon. Crop growth is uneven and not satisfactory due to prolonged drought conditions during the grand growth period. This circumstance led to a drop in productivity and impacted the financial status of the farmers since tobacco is the only source of their livelihood, he explained.
With all these challenges, the total production in the 2023-24 crop season from both authorised and unauthorised growers will be 75 to 80 m kilos as against the authorised permitted quantity of 100 m kilos. Penalising the unauthorised production even after a significant reduction in productivity levels due to weather aberrations will keep farmers under distress conditions which may further impact the farmers’ economics, he argued.
In this backdrop, the MP urged the Minister to consider the plight of Karnataka tobacco and extend support to the farming community by waiving off the penalties for tobacco produced by unauthorized farmers and allow these growers to sell their produce from the beginning of the auction during 2023-24 crop season.
The MP also urged the Minister to provide licences to 12,729 unauthorised barns (10,180 growers) with a quota of 1,000 kg per barn for the 2023-24 crop season.
He said unregistered tobacco growers have been growing tobacco for many years in Karnataka. Tobacco Board allowed these unauthorised farmers to grow and sell through Tobacco Board auction floors by levying a penalty every year.
It is evident that out of a total of 57,142 registered barns, only 50,376 barns were renewed during the 2023-24 crop season, and in the last five years they have not grown more than 80 m kg (79.8 m kg in 2019-20). Whereas unauthorised growers produced up to 26.4 m kg during the 2019-20 crop season, he explained.
Even if unregistered growers grow the given quota of 1,750 kg/barn they may produce a maximum of 88 m kg and the balance quota is not useful to growers. There are about 10,180 unauthorised growers with 12,729 unauthorized barns who are currently active and growing tobacco. The production of both registered and unregistered growers will not cross the given authorized crop size of 100 m kg, he explained.
