E-auctions in six platforms were suspended in the Southern Light Soil (SLS) and Southern Black Soil (SBS) regions on Monday as farmers stalled the proceedings in protest against the drastic fall in market prices as a fallout of the cigarette manufacturers’ decision to stop production decrying the stipulation of larger pictorial health warning.
Upset with the unremunerative prices offered by the cigarette manufacturers and exporters for the 239 bales brought by them, the farmers in Ongole I auction platform withdrew their produce after 14 bales were traded, Tobacco Board sources said.
In Tangutur II, the auctions were suspended after 86 of the 204 bales were traded as the farmers were dissatisfied with the prices offered by the traders, the sources said, adding that the auctions were also suspended in Kondepi, Kanigiri, D.C. Palli, and Kaligiri.
In all, 95,229 million kg of tobacco could be traded in SBS auction platforms at an average price of Rs. 125.87 per kg, the sources said.
Expressing concern over the market going southwards, noted farmer leader and former MP Y. Sivaji urged the Union Commerce Ministry to take note of the snail’s pace at which e-auctions were progressing with the manufacturers reneging on the commitments they made at the time of fixing the crop size by reducing their off-take from the market.
“It is high time a full-fledged Chairman was appointed for the Tobacco Board, as also Executive Director and other board members to deal with the present crisis effectively,” he said.
Alarmed by the lacklustre market condition, Virginia Tobacco Growers’ Welfare Association president Ch. Seshaiah said: “The growers will decide their next course of action in a couple of days.”
“The Tobacco Board can suspend the auctions till the deadlock is broken as the farmers are agitated over the high rejection rate of 34 per cent of the bales brought for auctions,” he said.
It was unfortunate that the cigarette manufacturers chose to put the farmers to trouble instead of dealing with the larger pictorial warning issue at the appropriate level, he added.
