ONGOLE: Tobacco growers’ requests for relief from penalties on excess and unauthorised production received a positive response after the Union government permitted the sale of excess Flue-Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco produced in Andhra Pradesh during the 2025-26 crop season.
As per the latest notification issued by the Union Commerce Ministry on Friday, the Centre has permitted registered and unregistered growers in the State to sell excess FCV tobacco at all auction platforms authorised by the Tobacco Board.
“The Central Ministry issued the Gazette notification today and it will take another four to five days to complete all procedural steps and issue appropriate guidelines. It is a good sigh of relief for the entire tobacco growers of AP,” GLK Prasad, Regional Manager of the SBS and SLS regions, told TNIE.
According to official information, the Tobacco Board permitted around 142 million kg of tobacco production for the 2025-26 crop season, including up to 89 million kg for the SBS and SLS regions.
Farmers still have 65 mn kg of tobacco
However, estimated production has reached around 100 million kg more than the permitted quantity. In the two southern regions, excess production is estimated at around 55-60 million kg. As of Friday, around 80 million kg of FCV tobacco stocks had been purchased through 11 auction platforms, while farmers reportedly still had around 65 million kg of stocks with them.
Farmers staged protests at various auction platforms and at the Tobacco Board office in Guntur, demanding permission to sell their excess and unauthorised tobacco produce through auction platforms.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Agriculture Minister K Atchannaidu, Social Welfare Minister Dola Sree Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy and Energy Minister Gottipati Ravi Kumar, along with Board officials, held several rounds of discussions on the tobacco market situation.
Welcoming the Centre’s decision, Swamy thanked the Chief Minister and Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal for the step to safeguard the interests of tobacco farmers.