Tobacco products touched an all-time high of 162,000 tonne worth Rs 1,362 crore (Rs 13.62 billion) this year, according to Narendranath, president, Indian Tobacco Association.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the three-day National Conference on Tobacco here on Tuesday, Narendranath said the tobacco exports could be doubled by the year 2009 if the government came out with an attractive package of sops for this sector.
"The governments abroad offer so many subsidies to the tobacco sector in their respective countries, particularly to farmers. But, we hardly have any such governmental support. If the government comes out with subsidies, we can easily double the tobacco exports by 2009," he noted.
J Suresh Babu, executive director, Tobacco Board, said the projected one per cent increase per year in the global tobacco consumption, coupled with the rapid political and economic changes in tobacco-producing countries such as Zimbabwe, offered excellent opportunity for India to increase its share in the global market.
Suresh Babu said the global tobacco consumption was going up, despite massive anti-smoking campaigns and the talk of health hazards.
The Indian Society of Tobacco Science, with the Tobacco Board, Centre for Tobacco Research Institute, and Indian Tobacco Association co-sponsoring the event, is organising the three-day National Conference. About 300 delegates from five countries, including India, US and Japan, are taking part in this three-day symposium.
The theme of the Conference is 'Scientific Strategies for Sustainable Growth of Farm Economy and Export.'
Suresh Babu said India was currently ranked at the third place in the global tobacco market, producing about 700 million kg of all varieties of tobacco, including Flue-Cured Virginia, Burley, Orientals, and Natu.
China is the top tobacco producing country in the world, with a production of around 900 million kg, followed by Brazil with 757 million kg.
K Deo Singh, director, CTRI, said his organisation had formulated a comprehensive Prospective Plan of Action-2020 under the stewardship of ICAR, which includes targetted objectives in areas like maintaining the style of Indian FCV tobacco and improving the quality, realising a sustainable increase in productivity and reduction in cost of production, producing flavourful tobacco, reducing harmful
substances, and using information technology for effective transfer, adoption of latest technologies.
The CTRI, he said, has also developed many technologies for alternative use of tobacco, and is in the process of commercialising them in association with the private sector.
"In fact, we have developed a technology, which helps one to extract almost 95 per cent Solenesol. We have applied for patent, and we hope to get it soon. Solenesol has a lot of medicinal value, as it has been proved to be very effective in controlling heart disease and cancer," he added.