Tobacco Board Regional Manager M. Sriramamurthy has called for stress on quality in tobacco cultivation in the northern light soils (NLS) region in West Godavari district.
Led by a team of technical personnel from the Board, he undertook a field visit in Koyyalagudem and Jangareddygudem mandals in the district on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of quality check. Interacting with growers, he recalled that international buyers had expressed reservations over accepting tobacco exports from the country owing to crop protection agents (CPA) residues. He exhorted farmers to add export value to their produce by adopting the best farm practices.
Popularising pest and disease control through bio-engineering and bio-pesticide/cultural methods as a substitute to the application of chemical fertilizers is the best method to keep the tobacco produce away from the CPA residues, he added.
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“The Board has decided to develop the NLS region as a model project area with quality as the main focal point. The on-farm trial (OFT) plots chosen under the model project programme will be enriched with transfer of research and technology from labs in a grower-friendly manner,” he said. B.N. Mitra, Manager (Extension) and C.K. Prabhu, Auction Superintendent were present.