Price for tobacco demanded

Buttayigudem: The Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham has demanded that the government provide price of Rs 200 per kg of tobacco and help the growers come out of financial crisis. A team of the sangham led by its upland district secretary K Srinivas visited several areas in the district and verified the grade of tobacco.

Speaking on the occasion, Srinivas said that the tobacco growers had been incurring losses every year as the companies were offering lowest prices to the produce. Neither Tobacco Board nor the state government had been concerned about the fate of the growers, he alleged.

Even though the growers have been investing Rs 1.2 lakh per acre on the crop, they were getting meagre produce because of pests and inferior fertilisers supplied by the board, he said. Srinivas threatened the government to stage protests in front of auction centres, if the government failed to provide price to the growers immediately.