YS Jagan seeks MARKFED intervention for tobacco

Metro India News | devarapalli

YSRCP supremo Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday urged the state government to deploy MARKFED for tobacco procurement, alleging that falling prices, rising cultivation costs and trader cartelisation were pushing farmers into losses.

"The Andhra Pradesh government should deploy MARKFED to procure tobacco as farmers are suffering heavy losses due to falling prices, rising cultivation costs and trader cartelisation," Jagan told reporters. The YSRCP chief made the demand after interacting with tobacco farmers in Devarapalli village in East Godavari district.

He alleged that tobacco companies had formed a cartel to manipulate prices, while the Tobacco Board had failed to honour its assurance to procure the crop. Jagan alleged that the average price of tobacco had fallen sharply under the NDA coalition government, with some farmers forced to sell their produce for as little as Rs 170 per kg.

He claimed that the average tobacco price stood at Rs 289 per kg during the YSRCP government between 2019 and 2024, but had fallen to around Rs 220 per kg under the NDA coalition government. He alleged that only about 20 per cent of the crop was being procured despite the Tobacco Board encouraging farmers to cultivate tobacco by assuring procurement.

He claimed that the YSRCP government had introduced the Andhra Pradesh State Co-operative Marketing Federation Limited (MARKFED) as a buyer to promote competition and ensure remunerative prices, besides providing interest-free crop loans of up to Rs 1 lakh to farmers. The present government, he claimed, had discontinued the initiative, aggravating farmers' distress.