| Speaking to Business Standard, Narendranath said that the ITA would present its case against hiking the tobacco purchase prices at a meeting of the board officials and representatives of farmers and traders to be chaired by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu in Hyderabad on Monday. |
| The ITA could, at the most, promise that its members would continue to give present rates to the farmers, he said. |
| Terming the farmers' charge that the tobacco prices had crashed by Rs 10 per kg at the auction platforms, as baseless, he said: "The board data revealed that while the traders purchased tobacco at an average rate of Rs 40.53 per kg during the 2002-03 season, the average rate stood at Rs 41.30 per kg this season. The farmers' contention that the traders have intentionally slowed down the marketing process, putting them at risk is also incorrect. During the 2002-03 season, the traders purchased 30 million kg of tobacco in 75 auction days. For the same period during the current season, they bought 43 million kg of tobacco from the ryots. This shows that the purchases have only increased." |
| On the traders' predicament, Narendranath said, "The dollar has been shrinking. From last year's value of Rs 47.50, it has slipped to around Rs 44.6 and is expected to fall further to Rs 42 by this year-end. The traders will have to reconcile to the slashed rupee realisation from the tobacco exports. So this important development will naturally influence the procurement trends and the price levels." |
| He said that the ban on cigarette advertisements would badly hit the domestic cigarette market. |
| "The ITA has calculated that there would be a 15 per cent drop in cigarette sales due to the ban. Also, our farmers should realise that multinational cigarette companies use our tobacco only as a neutral filler. They should focus on improving the tobacco quality that conforms to international standards." |
| He pointed out that the state announced a grant of Rs 5 crore to the growers' cooperative federation. "The organisation has not yet intervened in the market. The farmers may have to put pressure on the federation to take part in the auctions," he said. |
| "The ITA, after a detailed study and consultations on demand projections, conveyed to the Tobacco Board in July 2003 that its members might purchase up to 107 million kg tobacco this year "� 57 million kg for domestic market and 50 million kg for exports. But the farmers have harvested 141 million kg tobacco, unmindful of the repeated appeals made by the ITA and the Tobacco Board asking them not to raise excess crop. Now 90 million kg tobacco, almost double the fixed size, will have to be exported, which is impractical," Narendranath pointed out. |
| On the allegations by the farmers' leaders against cigarette giant ITC for the crisis on the auction floors, he said: "Though the ITA is neutral on the issue, we feel that these leaders are unnecessarily dragging ITC into petty issues." |
| ITC purchases 45 per cent of the crop every year. The conglomerate is also implementing a number of pro-farmer welfare and developmental programmes throughout the country. The cigarette major gives stability to the tobacco market, he said. |
| Narendranath asserted that the ITA is neither pro-Karnataka farmers nor anti-Andhra farmers. During 2002-03, the Andhra farmers produced 127 million kg of tobacco as against the fixed crop size of 102 million kg. Even then, the traders purchased the entire crop. This year also they would do their job provided peaceful atmosphere prevailed in auction floors." |
| He said the board fixed 53 million kg as the crop size for Karnataka. They also produced excess crop up to 73 million kg. The board auctioned the crop in its floors and traders purchased it, offering rates based on quality. They were doing the same business in the Andhra platforms also. |
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