Tobacco famers attack cops

MYSORE: Tobacco farmers in Periyapatna, near Mysore, thrashed police officers at the tobacco auction held here, on Wednesday. And health minister Anbumani Ramadoss has played an indirect role in stirring the farmers’ ire.

The violence erupted because peasants believe that the ban on smoking, called by Ramadoss, has given traders and middlemen the opportunity to bring down the prices of tobacco leaves. 

The traders have also used CM BS Yeddyurappa’s advice on cultivating alternative crops, which he gave to tobacco farmers a few months, to their advantage.  

Farmers have complained that the price of lower grade tobacco leaves, which hovered between Rs90 and Rs95 per kg in the beginning of the month when the auction season began, hit an unbelievable Rs50-55 per kg two days ago. They could not find any rationale behind the fall in the prices as 90% of the tobacco grown in the area was still being shipped overseas. Hence, they justified that when there has been no crash of international prices of tobacco, local events should not have much to do with a sudden turn about in prices.

In 2006-07, farmers in the region cultivated 95 million kilograms of tobacco which fetched nearly Rs120 per kg. Hence, when the prices plummeted, tobacco farmers, particularly from Hunsur, stuck to their demand for a minimum price of Rs100 a kg and boycotted the proceedings at the auction platforms.

Buyers prefer tobacco grown in Karnataka than that grown in Andhra Pradesh because of its superior quality.

According to Javare Gowda, a former Tobacco Board member, tobacco is grown in 91,000 hectares of land in the state and about 40,000 registered tobacco growers would be affected if the prices continue to fall.

“The state and central governments should intervene and help farmers get out of this crisis. We are poor, and the government must do something to save us,” Gowda said.