Nearly 1.12 lakh acre land shifted from tobacco to alternate crops

Nearly 1.12 lakh acres of land have been shifted from tobacco farming to the cultivation of alternative crops during the last five fiscal years.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said: ''A total of 1,11,889 acres land has been shifted from tobacco farming during last five years i.e. 2017-18 to 2021-22 to other alternative crops/cropping system.'' The Department of Agriculture has been implementing crop diversification program, a sub-scheme of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), in 10 tobacco-growing states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal to encourage farmers to shift to alternative crops/cropping system since 2015-16.

Under this program, tobacco-growing states have been given the flexibility to take suitable activities/ interventions to shift from tobacco crops to alternative agricultural/horticultural crops.