Farmers in the districts of Prakasam and Nellore are opposing plans that would see a contract farming system for FCV introduced, reports The New Indian Express.

The Prakasam-Nellore Districts’ Tobacco Growers Association unanimously opposed the recent proposal for the introduction of a contract farming system on FCV. Contract farming is becoming more popular in farming laws and tobacco farmers are worried that the government will introduce the system on FCV cultivation soon. According to The New Indian Express (TNIE), tobacco farmers usually use traditional methods to cultivate the FCV and have a relatively low yield as a result. Since the volume of tobacco exports have been decreasing over the last few years, the Union ministry is thinking about introducing the contract system to gain a 30 to 35 per cent growth in exports.
“We fear that the Centre may introduce contract farming in the FCV tobacco cultivation to increase the exports by 30-35 per cent. If so, then the growers will have to shut shop one day as the farming will be taken over by private firms,” V V Prasad and Badri Reddy, association representatives, said.
Ministry officials on the other hand, have said that contract farming was only discussed as a possible option. “The introduction of contract farming in the tobacco sector was discussed by the ministry officials only as an option. There are no orders or directions regarding it from the Union government so far,’’ Addanki Sridhar Babu, executive director (ED) of Tobacco Board, told TNIE.