The Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA) has appealed to the Indian government to help save tobacco farmers’ livelihoods during the current pandemic, reported the Times of India.

FAIFA is a non-profit organisation representing farmers and farm workers of commercial crops across multiple states in India. Tobacco farms are currently struggling, as demand for tobacco has weakened considerably, due to the declining volumes of cigarettes and other tobacco products after the prolonged lockdowns.
Nearly 130 million kilogrammes of flue cured tobacco, worth around USD 225 million, is currently in storage and waiting to be sold, which is causing quality degradation. There are a further 330 million kilogrammes of tobacco lying in open fields, as traders are unable to pick up the produce due to the ban on the sale of tobacco products. According to the report, the rainy season will start soon and if the sale of tobacco is not permitted before then, then both traders and farmers will go bankrupt.
Javare Gowda, FAIFA’s president, told the Times of India, “As FCV tobacco farmers’ are undergoing severe financial crisis, we request the Government of India to immediately sanction a compensation amount of Rs 25,000 [USD 332] each to all registered FCV tobacco growers for survival.”