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Abstract
Flue-Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco is the major commercial crop in Southern Transitional Zone (STZ) 7 of Karnataka. FCV tobacco is being grown in kharif as rainfed crop with more institutional support and sustained demand in the international market. The various crops cultivated include Ragi, maize, Paddy, Jowar (Cereals), Red gram, Cowpea, Field bean, Horse gram, Sesamum, Niger (Pulses and Oil seeds), FCV tobacco, Cotton, Sugarcane, Turmeric, Chillies, Ginger, Potato (Commercial Crops), Coconut, Areca nut, Banana, Mango, Tamarind, Sapota (Horticulture and plantation crops). India is a signatory to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and is under obligation to halve tobacco cultivation in the country by 2020. The present communication deals with various management initiatives involved in the process of finding an alternate or substitute to tobacco in some pockets with demand driven crops. The present paper deals with various factors and issues to be studied for substituting tobacco in micro-zones. An attempt is to identify domains for developing protocols to study the agro-system and priorities for stakeholders for joining hands with Government of India's initiative to halve the crop size from 100m.Kg by 2020. As a precursor to sustain the rural development possible areas for CSR activity have also been discussed. The protocols developed help in the management initiatives for substituting the crop in pockets.
Keywords: Flue-Cured Virginia tobacco; Alternatives; Agro-ecosystem; CSR-matrix
Agriculture is the predominant occupation of people in Mysore district. Out of the total geographical area of 676382 ha. in the district, about 342852 ha. is cultivable area. Totally, there are 379670 Land holdings in the district; of them, 86763 are small (less than 2 ha.), 237060 are marginal (< 1 ha) and others are medium (2-10ha.) and large (>10 ha.) holdings. Besides, the district has about 1.65 lakh agricultural labourers. Based on rainfall, soils and crops grown, the district is classified into two agro-climatic zones viz., Southern Dry Zone (Krishnarajanagar, Mysore, T.Narasipur and Nanjangud) and Southern Transitional Zone (H.D.Kote, Hunsur and Periyapatna) Tobacco Board).
FCV tobacco is an important Commercial crop grown under rain fed conditions in the STZ 7 of Karnataka, Cultivated in > 1.0 lakh ha in KLS covering around 1000 villages and 42,000 farmers (mostly small and marginal). Mysore district alone contributes for more than 80%...