At a time when efforts were underway to identify a suitable alternative crop for tobacco, which is linked to cancer and cardiovascular diseases among other ailments, Antardhwani, an independent think tank of HCG-Bharat Hospital and Institute of Oncology (BHIO), is steering a project under which tobacco farmers had switched to growing sandalwood.
In the tobacco-growing belt of Hunsur in Mysuru district, about 50 farmers, who were ready to pledge one acre of their land for the project, had been given 15,000 high-grade sandalwood saplings and over 8,000 saplings of lucrative seasonal fruits.
