new delhi farmer organisation federation of all india farmer associations faifa has written to the prime ministers office pmo and finance ministry against the who recommendation that alternative crops should replace tobacco as it contributes to global food crisis in its representation to the pmo finance ministry commerce ministry and the ministry of health and family welfare faifa has made a case that the recommendation of the world health organisation who is unscientific and there are no benefits of other crops replacing tobacco cultivation citing a study conducted by the central tobacco research institute ctri the organisation said the previous attempt made in andhra pradesh for substitution to alternative crops like grams and paddy led to significant losses for the farmers in comparison to their previous earnings from tobacco cultivation faifa a nonprofit organisation representing the cause of millions of farmers and farm workers of commercial crops across andhra pradesh telangana karnataka gujarat requested the government that india should not implement the guidelines or recommendations made by who as these are onesize fits all solutions based on a western model of tobacco consumption they do not necessarily serve the purpose of tobacco control or revenue enhancement in a country like india further india being a large tobacco producer the livelihood of millions will be affected due to such appeals without doing proper agroclimatic studies faifa general secretary murali babu said in a statement apart from extreme tax policies climate change is resulting in the decline of tobacco cultivation in india it said adding the tobacco control board under the ministry of commerce and industries regulates tobacco cultivation and sets authorized production levels for each state however it said due to the impact of climate change manifested through cyclones like nivar and pethai floods and droughts actual production has consistently fallen short of the authorised levels we appeal to who to show their genuine intent to help the farming community and they should guarantee full compensation for any loss arising to the tobacco farmers he added