Staring at an uncertain export market and stung by declining earnings, many tobacco farmers in Mysuru have started finding ginger cultivation more lucrative.
Several tobacco farmers took to ginger cultivation over the last two to three years and the numbers are expected to increase this year after the Tobacco Board, fearing a dip in global demand for tobacco on account of COVID-19, reduced the crop size from 100 million kg last year to 88 million kg.
More than 80% of the superior Virginia Flue Cured (VFC) tobacco cultivated in Periyapatna, Hunsur, H.D. Kote, and K.R. Nagar taluks of Mysuru is exported to cigarette-manufacturing companies abroad, particularly to European countries, which are reeling under the impact of COVID-19.
The area under tobacco cultivation in Mysuru, which spread across 80,000 hectares two to three years ago, has now shrunk to around 65,000 hectares, with the growers opting for alternative crops like ginger and maize. “The area may come down by another 10,000 hectares this year with a lot of unlicensed tobacco growers shifting to other crops,” said Joint Director of Agriculture Department in Mysuru, Mahantheshappa, referring to the challenges before tobacco growers including the inability to sell about 2.5 to 3 million kg of tobacco grown last year after the auction platforms were abruptly closed due to the lockdown.
President of VFC Tobacco Growers’ Association Javare Gowda said the shift from cultivation of tobacco to ginger is expected to be quite substantial this year. “Farmers are opting for ginger purely for economic reasons. In view of the remunerative market for ginger, they are giving up tobacco,” he said.
The emergence of ginger as a commercially viable alternative to tobacco comes after years of campaign against tobacco cultivation by anti-tobacco crusaders.
Even though ginger requires drip irrigation unlike tobacco, which can be grown in rain fed areas, the monetary returns in ginger cultivation will more than make good the input expenditure incurred by the farmer, said Mr. Gowda.
However, farmers will not be able to grow ginger again on the same soil for at least three years as it is considered a nutrient exhaustive crop. But, they can grow other crops including ragi, jowar and even tobacco. Many farmers, who own more than 5 to 7 acres, are growing ginger in a portion of their land so that they can grow it on other portions later.
A tobacco farmer from Komalapura in Periyapanta taluk in Mysuru Swami Gowda said the profit margins for farmers growing tobacco had narrowed over the last couple of years due torise in cost of labour.
“Even though I can grow about 700 kg of tobacco in an acre of land, my cost of expenditure is around ₹120 per kg at present while the returns are anywhere between ₹100 and ₹140 per kg. But, if I cultivate ginger and market remains as good as it has been during the last two years, I will be better off,” said Mr. Swami Gowda.
Ginger farmers use ginger tubers as seeds for cultivating ginger. “If the crop is not affected by pests, we can harvest upto 10 sacks of ginger from one sack of tubers, each of which costs around ₹2,500 to ₹2,800. The good returns will cover up the cost incurred on drip irrigation as well as labour,” he said.
