Tamil Nadu - Erode   

Farmers in Erode district revive tobacco cultivation

ERODE: Due to ban in use of tobacco and also non-availability of skilled labourers, tobacco cultivation has drastically gone down in Erode district during the past few years.

But due to the favourable weather and also the remunerative price for the product, many farmers have now come forward to raise tobacco on their lands.

The sixty-day crop requires minimum water and usually the crop is raised in Sathyamangalam, Thookanaickkenpalayam, Gobichettipalayam, Nambiyur, Puliampatty and Dharapuram areas.

Now the climatic conditions are very suitable for planting the crop and so in Gobichettipalayam and Sathyamangalam taluks, the farmers have planted tobacco over 9,000 to 10,000 hectares.

The farmers said usually the crop would be planted in January and harvested in March.

Farmers said this year, the chill weather had helped the crop and they were expecting a bumper harvest of tobacco in March.

The farmers said they were selling the crop to tobacco merchants in Maharashtra, Andhra and Tamil Nadu.

Two years ago, the product was sold at Rs. 20 to Rs. 25 per kilogram and last year it was sold at Rs. 25 to Rs. 30 per kg. This year they are expecting Rs. 30 per kilogram.

If the price continues to be remain unchanged, they will get good profit for the crop.

Regarding the skilled labourers, they said they were taking much pain in getting such labourers.

This year they were paying extra wages for skilled labourers, to ensure they would get a good harvest and earn reasonable profit.

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