India's First-ever Cooperative for Nicotine Industry Formed in Anand, Gujarat

• A unique initiative that will enable Gujarat Farmers to transition to more profitable processed end product — being launched on Sardar Patel Jayanti — is aligned with PM Modi's vision of doubling farmer incomes by 2022

• Sardar Patel AgroTech Coop Society for Nicotine Extraction will help 5 lakh Tobacco farmers in Gujarat to enhance their incomes

AHMEDABAD and ANAND, India, Nov. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A unique cooperative of tobacco growers to support the nicotine industry has been announced at Anand today, on the occasion of Sardar Patel Jayanti.

The newly formed cooperative, called Sardar Patel AgroTech Coop Society Limited, will support the nicotine industry, which is seen to be a new greenfield opportunity for exporters in India. This will be a first-ever initiative to help tobacco growers move up the value chain by extracting tobacco sap for Nicotine production. This is in line with the vision of Sardar Patel and Hon'ble Prime Minister to enable farmer participation and economic upliftment through participating in value addition agro-industries.

Bhikubhai N Patel, Chairman of the new cooperative society, said, "We are very proud to contribute to Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision of sharing benefits of agro produce value addition with the farmers. We plan to start small by associating with about a hundred tobacco farmers in Anand District, but we envisage being able to ramp up operations to cover atleast a thousand farmers within the first few years. And once this model is successful, we will replicate in other tobacco growing regions in the Country."

In Gujarat a total of about 125 million kilogram tobacco is produced in an area of about 65,000-85,000 hectares with a productivity of about 1800 kg/ha with the major type being bidi tobacco followed by chewing (lal and kala chopadia), hookah (gadaku) and rustica, which are grown in about 20,000 ha.

Kheda, Anand and Vadodara districts account for about 90 per cent of total production of bidi tobacco in Gujarat besides a small area in Panchmahal and Dohad districts, while in North Gujarat Zone in Ahmedabad district in a compact area of about 500 hectares of Sanand taluka, gadaku tobacco is grown. Mehsana, Banaskantha, Gandhinagar and Sabarkantha districts mainly cultivate rustica tobacco. There are more than 5 lakh growers and another 5 to 6 lakh traders and labour in associated trades directly engaged in the business of growing and processing of tobacco currently. The tobacco grown in Gujarat is processed for production of beedis, chewing tobacco and Nicotine.

The Cooperative will set up a Nicotine Extraction Unit in Anand at Khanpur, based on indigenous technology giving better returns to the farmers for their produce and also gain from the global rise in demand for Nicotine. Tobacco grown in Gujarat is highly suited for Nicotine extraction. Already Gujarat leads the country in Nicotine production and India today stands among the top 3 Nicotine producers in the world. With the right systems and policies there is no reason why we cannot become the number one Nicotine producer in the world. To enable the tobacco growers, the bottom of the pyramid toilers of the land to participate in this growth, a cooperative movement for Nicotine extraction, along the lines of AMUL that was successful in changing the face of Anand district, has being initiated.

About The Sardar Patel AgroTech Coop Society for Nicotine Extraction:

This is a newly formed cooperative, named Sardar Patel AgroTech Coop Society Limited. This will support the nicotine industry, which is a new greenfield opportunity for exporters in India. It is a unique initiative that will enable Gujarat Farmers to transition to a more profitable processed end product -being launched on Sardar Patel Jayanti-is aligned with PM Modi's vision of doubling farmer incomes by 2022. Sardar Patel Agro Tech Coop Society for Nicotine Extraction will help 5 lakh Tobacco farmers in Gujarat to enhance their incomes.

The Cooperative will set up a Nicotine Extraction Unit in Anand at Khanpur, based on indigenous technology giving better returns to the farmers for their produce and also gain from the global rise in demand for Nicotine. Tobacco grown in Gujarat is highly suited for Nicotine extraction. Already Gujarat leads the country in Nicotine production and India today stands among the top 3 Nicotine producers in the world. With the right systems and policies there is no reason why we cannot become the number one Nicotine producer in the world. To enable the tobacco growers, the bottom of the pyramid toilers of the land to participate in this growth, a cooperative movement for Nicotine extraction, along the lines of AMUL that was successful in changing the face of Anand district, has been initiated.

PWR PWR

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