AAP General News (Australia)
04-19-2006
Tas: Farmers reeling after poppy contract cuts
A number of poppy growers in Tasmania may be left without an income this year .. after
one of the state's two processors cut contracts by 90 per cent.
GlaxoSmithKline says there's an oversupply in the world market .. and will itself plant
just 500 hectares of poppies .. compared with its normal crop of five thousand hectares.
Many of the company's 450 growers will now have to rely on alternative crops.
KEITH RICE from the Tasmanian Poppy Growers Association says this will place farmers
under significant financial pressure.
He says negotiations are underway with the state's second processor .. Tasmanian Alkaloids
.. to pick up some of the shortfall.
Tasmania produces up to half the world's poppies .. which are used for pain relief
products such as morphine.
AAP RTV rgr/cp/tm
KEYWORD: POPPY (HOBART)
2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.
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