COVID-19 has a telling impact on tobacco cultivation this rabi

Tobacco growers in Prakasam and Nellore districts have begun cultivation of the principal business crop on a cautious observe within the wake of the debilitating impact of the COVID-19-induced extended lockdown over the last cropping season coupled with labour scarcity now.

The Tobacco Board has already reduce down the crop dimension by about 15% for this rabi over the earlier 12 months’s crop dimension of 136 million kg for the State anticipating decreased world demand within the wake of the pandemic.

“Transplantation of seedlings is going on a slow pace. The extent of crop may come down by 20 to 25% this rabi,” mentioned Southern Black Soil regional supervisor R. Srinivasulu Naidu after taking inventory of the scenario on the grassroots degree.

Farmers have burnt their fingers because the advertising and marketing season coincided with the incidence of coronavirus.

Unexpected losses

Market remained shut through the early part of the lockdown resulting in discolouration and lack of weight of the produce. As a consequence, farmers incurred extra sudden losses, aside from poor grade out-turn attributable to premature rains within the month of January because the auctions extended for extra days, defined former Tobacco Board member P. Bhadri Reddy.

The crop regulator has mounted a crop dimension of 71.34 million kg – 37.91 million kg for Southern Light Soil (SLS) area and 33.43 million kg for Southern Black Soil (SBS) area within the two districts.

Farmers have taken up cultivation of tobacco up to now solely in 7,879.80 hectares within the SLS area and in 7,000.08 hectares within the SBS area towards 14,911.20 hectares and 12,232.80 hectares respectively through the corresponding interval the earlier 12 months.

Labour scarcity

Farmers additionally confronted acute scarcity of labour this season. Losing curiosity in tobacco, a labour-intensive crop, a majority of farmers converted to, amongst different crops, chilli, bengal gram and black gram, mentioned V.V. Prasad, a farmer from Chekurapadu village.

“Those who opted for tobacco will have to spend an additional 20% for engaging workers,” he defined. Last 12 months, the price of cultivation was about ₹1 lakh to ₹1.10 lakh per acre.

With farmers shedding curiosity, the lease hire for tobacco barn dropped to about ₹50,000 and land tenancy hire to ₹16,000 per acre.

Meanwhile, the Tobacco Board urged the growers to go for well timed plantation after elevating seedlings in plastic trays to get a good high quality produce. The farmers must also keep on with the crop dimension to get a higher worth. Late plantations would end in poor grade out-turn.