After the ban on smoking in public places and successfully putting pictorial warnings on tobacco packs, Anbumani Ramadoss now wants to curb tobacco farming in India.
After the ban on smoking in public places and successfully putting pictorial warnings on tobacco packs, health minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss now wants to curb tobacco farming in India.
He wants to allure tobacco growers into taking up sugarcane, vegetables, garlic, maize, fruits, pepper, cotton, sweet potato, turmeric, mustard, groundnut, soyabean and chillies as alternative cash crops. The health ministry has sanctioned Rs 2.17 crore to the Central Tobacco Research Institute (CTRI) in Rajahmundry to carry out a pilot project to explore alternative cropping systems for bidi and tobacco growers. The project will also look at challenges farmers might face during the transition, including issues of market support and agricultural research.
The project is an effort to meet the obligations under WHO-FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control), which wants an established strategy to reduce the supply of tobacco. The measure also comes in the wake of stiff resistance from the tobacco industry after the smoking ban.
The project will focus on tobacco growing areas of Nandyal (Andhra Pradesh), Anand (Gujarat), Dharmaj (Gujarat), Nipani (Karnataka), Vedasandur (Tamil Nadu) and Dinhata (West Bengal).
The decision is also guided by a report which says that despite the threat to health, India has witnessed an unforeseen rise in tobacco exports, up 55% to reach $169 million in first quarter of 2008-09. An international shortfall has forced global buyers to source Indian leaf at a higher price. The Tobacco Board says exporters are buying aggressively. The country’s 2008-09 exports could be $600 million, 19% over last year’s $503 million.
India is the third largest producer of tobacco in the world after China and Brazil and second largest consumer after China. As a result, 40% of cancers in India are due to tobacco use. Every year 8-9 lakh Indians die because of tobacco related disease.
“Bidis are equally or more harmful than cigarettes because the nicotine content is higher. And not just consumption, even cultivation is a hazard,” said a health official.
Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates say 290,000 people are involved in growing bidi in India. The National Sample Survey (NSS) pegs the figure at 2,634,000.
Another report says 5.5 million people get employment in the bidi sector during cultivation, processing, manufacture, wholesale trade and retail. In fact the bidi industry directly supports nearly 2.2 million tribals in plucking and sale of tendu leaves. About 74% of the tobacco workforce is in the bidi sector and 76% of bidi makers are women.
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