Minister for Animal Husbandry and Sericulture K. Venkatesh has called the tobacco farmers of Periyapatna to take to sericulture.
At a recent function in Kaggundi in his home constituency of Periyapatna, Mr. Venkatesh called upon the farmers to consider sericulture as an alternate crop to tobacco and ginger while assuring them economic stability in sericulture.
The farmers, who toil hard for tobacco or ginger crop, can earn money by taking to sericulture, which involves a simple process. Not only is the yield good, but also fetches a good sum of money due to the demand for cocoons, he said.
Mr. Venkatesh was critical of the banks for giving tobacco farmers huge amounts of loans by mortgaging their property.
Meanwhile, Anti-Tobacco Forum (ATF), Mysuru, has welcomed Mr. Venkatesh’s appeal to the tobacco farmers to take to adopt sericulture.
“ATF welcomes this statement from Minister K. Venkatesh whereas other MPs or politicians of Mysuru are encouraging tobacco farmers to grow more quality tobacco,” Vasanthkumar Mysoremath, convenor of ATF in Mysuru, said.
Referring to the reported suicide of the 70-year-old wife of a tobacco farmer in Saligrama due to her inability to clear the bank loan, Mr. Mysoremath sought to know “How many more deaths are needed to bank the cultivation of poisonous nicotine crop tobacco?”.
Meanwhile, president of Federation of VFC Tobacco Growers of Karnataka Javare Gowda did not rule out the possibility of tobacco farmers taking to sericulture if the crop was profitable.
“If there are good marketing facilities and financial support from banks, farmers may consider sericulture also,” he said.
However, he said the tobacco crop fetched the farmers a record price this year. The average price per kg was ₹260 to ₹270 this year, which was about ₹40 to ₹50 more than last year’s average of ₹220 per kg.
Also, the yield this time is set to reach 90 million kg with about 88 million kg already sold across the tobacco auction platforms in Mysuru and Hassan.
The ginger farmers were also happy with the rise in prices this year, he said with the price for a 50 kg bag fetching them between ₹4,000 to ₹5,000 against ₹3,000 per kg earlier.
