Prospects of Indian tobacco growers may be hurt by excess rains in Karnataka
Excess rains this monsoon is seen hurting the prospects of tobacco growers in South Karnataka, amidst an uptrend in global prices due to a production shortfall.
Growers said excess rains during June-July has impacted their crop prospects, resulting not only in a crop loss and but also leading to quality deterioration.
BV Javare Gowda, President, Federation of Karnataka Virginia Tobacco Growers Association, said the rains have been unprecedented this year, resulting in a crop loss as high as 30-40 per cent this year. Growers across all the key growing areas of South Karnataka have been impacted and should be compensated for the crop loss from the Tobacco Board’s Growers Welfare Fund, Gowda said.
Crop size
Tobacco is grown in parts of Mysuru, Hassan and Chamarajanagar districts in South Karnataka. For the 2024-25 season, the Tobacco Board has fixed the crop size for Karnataka at 100 million kg, similar to the last year’s crop size.
Officials at Tobacco Board said the excess rains during the second half of July led to water saturating in the fields resulting in lack of aeration for the plant roots. It led to premature yellowing of leaves. This will lead to production of more off-grades as the quality is affected, they said. “There will be some reduction in yields, but it is too early to quantify the losses. Also there will be some quality deterioration” an official said. “Now that the rains have ceased, there will be some growth.”
Rain-fed crop
Growers had also suffered due to the excess rains in the last week of May last and early June, where the planted seedlings were washed away in several areas.
Tobacco is a rain-fed crop in Karnataka. The Flue Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco is largely grown in the areas around Mysuru and has a good export demand as it can be blended with any other tobacco in the world as it has less nicotine, less tar and less sugar. “About 80-90 per cent of the FCV tobacco produced in Karnataka is exported,” Gowda said.
During the 2023-24 marketing season, the average auction prices in Karnataka were up by 13 per cent over the same period last year at a record ₹257.46 per kg.