The Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare is not implementing any programme / scheme for promotion of tobacco/tobacco cultivation in the country.

The Tobacco Board under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is mandated to regulate production and marketing of Flue cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco. The Board as per its mandate plans the FCV tobacco crop size, a season ahead and regulates its production. Subsequently, Tobacco Board conducts e-auctions for ensuring fair and remunerative prices to farmers and assured supply of tobacco to traders.

The Tobacco Board does not directly deal with farm-to-factory linkages to ensure higher returns for tobacco farmers by promoting value-added tobacco production. However, the Board has taken measures to improve its marketability in line with the international customer requirements thereby ensuring the realization of the better prices for the FCV tobacco produced by the farmers. Further, the Board has also taken necessary measures to protect the farmers from global price volatility to ensure the price stability. Due to focused efforts, the FCV tobacco farmers were able to increase their income since 2020-21 and the export revenue also more than doubled during this period. The farmer prices (average) for their FCV tobacco produce increased from Rs. 135.24 per kg in 2020-21 to Rs. 279.54 per kg in 2023-24. The value of export of tobacco and tobacco products also increased from Rs. 6,496.99 Crore in 2020-21 to Rs. 16,728.02 Crore in 2024-25.

Further, ICAR-National Institute for Research on Commercial Agriculture (NIRCA), Rajahmundry is involved in research through varietal development, production & protection technologies and leaf quality in different types of tobaccos grown in different climatic zones of India. ICAR-NIRCA is actively disseminating technologies and good agricultural practices to farmers.

This information was given by Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri  Ramnath Thakur in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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RC/ KSR/AR

(Release ID: 2152559)