Tobacco growing a wealth creator in Karnataka

A study carried out in Karnataka, India, has suggested that tobacco-producing districts are wealthier than those not producing tobacco, according to a Press Trust of India story relayed by the TMA.

The Indian government is considering implementing Articles 17 and 18 of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that aim to phase out tobacco cultivation by 2020.

The study, ‘Tobacco economics in India: The voice of farmer and other stakeholders’, was conducted jointly by the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India and the think-tank, Thought Arbitrage Research Institute.

It was said to have shown that wealth indicators such as per capita income, monthly per capita expenditure and gross district domestic product of the tobacco growing districts of Mysuru and Hassan were significantly superior to those of non-tobacco producing districts. Mysuru and Hassan together account for about 75 percent of tobacco output in Karnataka.

The study said that the likely immediate economic impact of a decline in the tobacco industry in these districts would be substantial because farms there tended to be small, production costs were high, and relatively few alternatives were available to tobacco producers.

A drastic reduction in tobacco growing in these districts might lead to dramatic changes in the structure of farming overall, employment, income and the socio-economic balance of the districts, it added.