BSS, Rangamati :
Cultivators have brought more than 1,000 hectares of land under tobacco farming in different areas in the Chittagong hill districts ignoring widespread campaign by the government and NGOs against tobacco cultivation.
Tobacco cultivation in the hill districts began decades back, but in the recent years it boomed because tobacco companies succeeded in luring cultivators to tobacco farming.
Companies like British American Tobacco, Dhaka Tobacco, Abul Khayer, Akij, Nasir and Bengal are front runners in alluring cultivators. They have set up offices and employed workers to lure farmers. There is no other industry here which can generate employment.
The representatives of these companies regularly visit villages, train farmers on tobacco cultivation, give them seeds and interest-free loans. It worked well as tobacco has now emerged a major crop in the districts.
In the past, for generations, farmers produced paddy, wheat, vegetables and mustard. After fulfilling family needs, they used to sell out the surplus products. But rising production cost and low prices of the crops have held them in constant hardship.
Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Naresh Chandra Baroi said national and multinational cigarette companies are still providing financial and logistic support to the farmers to continue tobacco production.
However, the government and non-government organizations have been motivating farmers for the last couple of years to switch over to other crops suitable for the areas, he added.
Ratan Chakma, a farmer at Bilchari village of Lama upazila said he is cultivating tobacco for last couple of years. This year he cultivated tobacco on five acres of land where he used to grow paddy. Like him, Kasi Mong, Sadan Marma, Polash Pru and many others grew tobacco on their paddy growing lands.
About 10,000 farmers in the districts have enlisted their names as tobacco growers this year. Farmers at different villages said tobacco brings windfall profits for them. The tobacco companies, moreover, provide them with seeds, fertilisers and other inputs and necessary technical support to grow tobacco.
Tobacco processing is causing serious environmental and health hazards in the region as many people are affected with various respiratory problems and skin diseases due to burning of firewood required for processing, said Naresh Chandra.
Cultivators have brought more than 1,000 hectares of land under tobacco farming in different areas in the Chittagong hill districts ignoring widespread campaign by the government and NGOs against tobacco cultivation.
Tobacco cultivation in the hill districts began decades back, but in the recent years it boomed because tobacco companies succeeded in luring cultivators to tobacco farming.
Companies like British American Tobacco, Dhaka Tobacco, Abul Khayer, Akij, Nasir and Bengal are front runners in alluring cultivators. They have set up offices and employed workers to lure farmers. There is no other industry here which can generate employment.
The representatives of these companies regularly visit villages, train farmers on tobacco cultivation, give them seeds and interest-free loans. It worked well as tobacco has now emerged a major crop in the districts.
In the past, for generations, farmers produced paddy, wheat, vegetables and mustard. After fulfilling family needs, they used to sell out the surplus products. But rising production cost and low prices of the crops have held them in constant hardship.
Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Naresh Chandra Baroi said national and multinational cigarette companies are still providing financial and logistic support to the farmers to continue tobacco production.
However, the government and non-government organizations have been motivating farmers for the last couple of years to switch over to other crops suitable for the areas, he added.
Ratan Chakma, a farmer at Bilchari village of Lama upazila said he is cultivating tobacco for last couple of years. This year he cultivated tobacco on five acres of land where he used to grow paddy. Like him, Kasi Mong, Sadan Marma, Polash Pru and many others grew tobacco on their paddy growing lands.
About 10,000 farmers in the districts have enlisted their names as tobacco growers this year. Farmers at different villages said tobacco brings windfall profits for them. The tobacco companies, moreover, provide them with seeds, fertilisers and other inputs and necessary technical support to grow tobacco.
Tobacco processing is causing serious environmental and health hazards in the region as many people are affected with various respiratory problems and skin diseases due to burning of firewood required for processing, said Naresh Chandra.
