Hyderabad: Tobacco farmers and farm leaders from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, including the Virginia Tobacco Growers Association, the Federation of Karnataka Virginia Tobacco Growers Association, the Kondapi Tobacco Growers Association, and the Kaligiri FCV Tobacco Growers Association, have vehemently opposed contract farming in the tobacco sector, claiming it will have negative consequences for their livelihoods.

Farmers also claimed that Covid-19 has caused devastating economic losses to Flue Cured Virginia (FCV) farmers, and that any move to bring contract farming into the tobacco industry will only exacerbate the pandemic-affected farmers' struggles to make ends meet.

"Contract farming is no match for our transparent auction system that ensures fair pricing for FCV tobacco," Gadde Seshagiri Rao, former Vice Chairman, Tobacco Board, said in opposition to the government's plan to introduce contract farming in the Indian tobacco sector. In fact, thanks to this system, even a small and marginal FCV tobacco farmer can get a better price for their product, making Indian FCV tobacco farmers the only growers in the world who have seen their returns improve year after year with very little fluctuation.

Foreign tobacco multi-nationals, who are experiencing tepid sales in global markets and are prohibited from investing in India under Indian FDI regulations, are allegedly attempting to gain a backdoor entry into the country by pushing for contract farming, according to FCV tobacco farmers.

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