The Tobacco Board which met in Bengaluru on Saturday fixed the crop size for Karnataka for 2016-17 at 95 million kg (mkg), according to a press release.

Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Commerce, presided over the meeting in his capacity as the Chairman of the Board. G Jayadev, Guntur’s Member of Parliament and a member of the Board, M Uma Maheswara Rao, President of the Indian Tobacco Association (ITA), the trade body, also attended the meeting.

On the indication of the demand given by the ITA, the crop size in Karnataka was fixed at 95 mkg against 100 mkg fixed last year. Against the authorised crop size of 100 mkg, a quantity of 71.95 mkg was sold in the State at ₹135.24 a kg. This shortfall led to a price spurt. During the previous year (2015-16), 103.40 mkg of tobacco was sold on the Karnataka floors at ₹107.49/kg.

G Seshagiri Rao was elected the Vice-Chairman of the Board at the meeting. A decision was also taken at the meeting to increase the interest-free loan amount from ₹25,000 to ₹50,000 to the farmers from the welfare fund to be repaid in three years in three instalments.

The tobacco auctions in Andhra Pradesh are in the initial stages and auctions in Karnataka concluded on March 16. It may be noted that in Karnataka tobacco is an early monsoon crop whereas in AP it is a late rabi crop.

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