Tobacco export from India had increased 27.6 per cent during 2012, compared to 2011

Tobacco will become the first cash crop in the country to be covered by crop insurance in the country. Tobacco growers, chiefly in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh where the finest quality of tobacco is grown, will benefit from this. It was initially proposed that the Centre should bear 50 per cent of the insurance, the states 25 per cent of the insurance cost, with the remaining 25 per cent coming from tobacco growers. But, realising that growers were not in a position to bear their share, the Tobacco Board is considering bearing 50 per cent of the farmers’ burden itself. If this is effected, growers will have to bear only 12.5 per cent.