India is the fourth largest producer of Flue Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco in the world after China, Brazil and Zimbabwe, according to A. Sridhar Babu, executive director, Tobacco Board of India.
At an event marking the foundation day of the board in Guntur on Wednesday (January 1), Mr. Sridhar said that India is the 2nd largest exporter of unmanufacturedtobacco (in terms quantity) after Brazil and that tobacco export earned India ₹12,005.89 crore in 2023-24 in foreign exchange.
As the Board, founded on January 1, 1976, celebrated its formation day, it highlighted that FCV tobacco farmers’ earnings have more than doubled between 2019-20 and 2023-24, from ₹124 a kg in 2019-20 to ₹279.54 in 2023-24.
He attributed this success to effective government policies and efficient market mechanisms, which improved the livelihoods of approximately 83,000 farmers. The Tobacco Board’s efforts have played a crucial role in ensuring better returns, demonstrating the positive impact of strategic support to tobacco farmers.
The efficient and transparent electronic auction system being implemented by the Tobacco Board for the sale of tobacco produced by the farmers helped achieve the government’s vision of doubling farmers’ income in the FCV tobacco sector, he said.
Effective government policies and the Tobacco Board’s efforts resulted in achieving an increase in export by 87% during the past five years, and it achieved a record high export value of ₹12,005.89 crore in 2023-24 against ₹6,408.15 crore in 2019-20. During this period the export volume increased from 218.84 million kg to 315.51 million kg.
The 2023-24 crop season turned out to be a remarkable year for FCV tobacco farmers in Andhra Pradesh, observed Mr. Sridhar. “Despite facing natural calamities, our farmers’ determination and resilience resulted in a record-high production of 215.35 million kg of tobacco,” he said.
Published – January 01, 2025 07:58 pm IST