Farmers in the traditional tobacco growing areas in Prakasam and Nellore districts have urged the Centre not to hike the cess on tobacco crop from 2% to 4%.
Farmers, who met under the leadership of Tobacco Board member Mareddy Subrahmanyeswara Reddy on Wednesday, opined that the increase in cess proposed under the Tobacco Board (Amendment) Bill 2022 would make the produce uncompetitive in the global market. The proposal came as a big shock to the farmers as they were already struggling to raise the crop under adverse weather conditions and the rise in cost of production year after year, he said.
In this context, the farmers from the Southern Black Soil (SBS) and Southern Light Soil (SLS) regions pointed out that their counterparts in countries like Brazil and Zimbabwe enjoyed incentives not only during crop production but also during export of their produce. Even if the cess was imposed only on the traders, they would have to bear it, they said, urging the Centre to continue with 1% cess each on farmers and traders.
