Covid-19 Triggered Tobacco New Normal: Need for Crop Diversification

Abstract

The present paper is an attempt to analyze the post Covid-19 tobacco sector and need for crop diversification in tobacco growing areas of India. The study was primarily based on the time series secondary data on area, production, exports and government anti-tobacco initiatives and progress in implementation of crop diversification in tobacco growing zones of India. Tobacco sector is at crossroads today due to social stigma attached to the crop from many years and the national and international policies relating to tobacco are becoming increasingly stringent in the recent years. The current declining demand is expected to reduce the tobacco production in future. Presently, with the advent of Covid-19 pandemic and emergence of new normal situation in tobacco, it will result further in decline of tobacco consumption, drop in funds to tobacco research support, farmers unable to get fair price due to decrease in demand for tobacco exports leads to fall in net returns to the growers. All these changes point to the fact that the tobacco sector is fraught with a great degree of uncertainty posing serious challenges to cultivation by farmers in future. In view of this, the future of people dependent on tobacco needs to be realigned in line with crop diversification with demand driven commercial crops so that the emerging and unforeseen socio-economic and environmental issues of tobacco sector can be addressed effectively