ONGOLE: Tobacco farmers are facing a hard time at the tobacco auction centres as the price of the crop further came down to a meagre Rs 75 per kg from the last week’s price of Rs 95.The fall in the price after the tobacco traders promised to buy the produce at Rs124 per kg during a discussion held with chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on June 2, has come as a surprise to the farmers.It may be noted that the chief minister held the discussion after the ten MLAs made a representation to him on the plight of tobacco farmers in the district.With the increase in the price of planting materials, fertilizer, pesticide and other crop inputs, tobacco farmers in the area are a worried lot as traders have been offering nominal price.P Bhadri Reddy, a member of the Tobacco Board said that the cost of cultivation of the crop is increased by 32 per cent, as compared to previous years.In a meeting held in Ongole on Monday, tobacco producers’ federation former president Chunchu Seshaiah alleged the state has failed in protecting the interests of tobacco farmers as the government has formed a syndicate with the traders. According to information, the tobacco board also recommended for purchase of tobacco at Rs146 per kg. Ranga Rao, a farmer leader in the district said that farmers will incur heavy loss if they could not sell their produce in the next 10 days as rainy season is about to set in. He said that the same traders were purchasing tobacco at Rs140 a kg from the neighbouring Karnataka, but denying the same to the tobacco farmers.Tobacco production in the state stood at 155 million kg this year and out of the total produce only 49 million kg have been purchased so far. Though the auction should be completed within three months, it is learnt that some 80 million kgs of tobacco is still lying with the farmers in Prakasam district only.
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