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Vishwanath Kulkarni

The State Government has already demanded that the crop size be increased to 60 million kg so that the unauthorised growers are regularised.

MYSORE, May 5

IN a bid to solve the problems faced by the tobacco growers in the State, the Karnataka Government is planning to send a delegation for talks with the Commerce Ministry, according to the State Education Minister, Mr H. Vishwanath.

Speaking at the awards ceremony of the Tobacco Institute of India at Mysore here today, Mr Vishwanath said the State Government is keen on solving the problems faced by the tobacco farmers.

He suggested that the Tobacco Board regularise unauthorised growers by issuing them permits to grow the crop legally. Of the 60 million kg produced during 2001-02, nearly 20 million kg was unauthorised (grown without a permit). However, the entire crop was sold by March-end, though the average prices dropped to Rs 39 a kg as against Rs 55 last year.

Mr Vishwanath said the Tobacco Board should refund the levy of 15 per cent per kg on the crop grown by unregistered growers. He also said that the penalty imposed by the board on the unregistered barns of the authorised growers should be abolished. There are an estimated 25,300 authorised barns and a near equal number of unauthorised barns. Even authorised growers have some additional 2,948 barns, which are not recognised by the board, he pointed out.

For the current year, the Tobacco Board has fixed a crop size of 41.7 million kg, a marginal increase of 3 million kg over the last year's authorised crop.

However, the State Government has already demanded that the crop size be increased to 60 million kg so that the unauthorised growers are regularised.

Earlier, Mr Vishwanath presented TII awards to three progressive farmers for implementing best practices and achieving better yields, even while maintaining quality.

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