In a meeting with around 400 Flue-Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco farmers from various districts, including Prakasam, Nellore, East Godavari, and West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu heard concerns about the impact of a recent over 70% increase in excise duty on cigarettes.
The farmers expressed their worries that the sharp tax hike had already begun to disrupt the tobacco value chain, even before the current marketing season. They claimed that cigarette manufacturers reduced offtake, causing uncertainty in FCV auctions, lowering prices, and intensifying distress among farmers.
The delegation of representatives warned that the excessive excise duty fuelled a surge in illicit cigarette trade and smuggling, swamping markets with untaxed and unregulated products. They argued that this trend not only harmed compliant farmers and legal manufacturers but also eroded government revenues while strengthening illegal networks.
Cigarettes were emphasized as the primary legal outlet for FCV tobacco, with a significant number of families in Andhra Pradesh depending on cultivation and allied activities such as curing, grading, transport, warehousing, processing, and exports. The farmers cautioned that continued market disruption could destabilize rural livelihoods across multiple districts.
Urging immediate intervention, the farmers appealed to Chief Minister Naidu to take up the matter with the Union government and seek a rollback of the cigarette excise hike in the interest of farmer livelihoods, rural employment, state revenue, and the sustainability of the legal market.
