The Tobacco Board, which met in Bengaluru on Saturday, has fixed the crop size in Karnataka for 2016-17 at 95 million kg.
According to a press release issued here on Sunday, 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 member of Parliament and a member of the board, and M. Uma Maheswara Rao, president of the Indian Tobacco Association (ITA), also attended the meeting.
On the demand made by 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, 71.95 million kg of tobacco was sold in that state at Rs 135.24 a kg. The shortfall led to the price spurt.
During the previous year (2015-16), 103.40 million kg of tobacco was sold on the Karnataka floors at Rs 107.49 a kg.
G Seshagiri Rao, member of the board, was elected as the vice-chairman at the meeting. A decision was also taken at the meeting to increase the interest-free loan amount from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 to the farmers from the welfare fund to be repaid in three years in three instalments.
Tobacco auctions in Andhra Pradesh are at initial stage and auctions in Karnataka had 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.