Cyclone Mandous & Traditional FCV
With the of late intentional and steady decline of the yet to be marketed quantity of Mysore FCV at the auction floors (from 0.94 Mil kgs/day ->peak of November to just 0.09 Mil kgs/day –> last week), the FCV growers of Karnataka are doing their best to retain the highest ever average price that transpired in November as the average price in green last week was at Rs. 228/kg ($2.76/kg) from its peak average at Rs. 254/kg ($3.08/kg) last month.
While all the focus was on Mysore FCV, the unseasonal heavy rainfall caused by cyclone Mondous that struck the south east coast of India last week had brought new troubles to the tobacco farmers of Traditional FCV. As of Tuesday 13.12.2022, no real assessment specific to tobacco crop had been done to the extent of damage caused, farmers did express concerns over the subsequent losses that result from the untimely rains.
It is evident that the extent of damage varied from region to region. For instance, almost 80% of SLS (Southern Light Soils) region has finished transplantation about a month ago and only 70% of SBS (Southern Black Soils) region has begun transplantation of seedlings. It is reported that most of the low-lying areas from these regions have partially and fully submerged in flood water.
This tragedy puts unanticipated burden on the farmers as they have no choice except to make additional investment for purchase of seedlings and bearing the transplantation costs.
It is also being expressed that the farmers are still motivated to hit the targeted 89 Million Kilos mark (compared to 76.5 Mil Kgs sold last season) after witnessing a better average pricing for the previous crop as well as with the ongoing Mysore FCV.
#tobacco #tobaccoindustry #kkme #kkmetobacco #fcv #agriculture #indianagriculture
