A Look Back to Traditional Methods do Produce a Tobacco for the Future

INDIA

Growers cultivate intercultural tobacco with country oxen.

A Look Back to Traditional Methods to Produce a Tobacco for the Future

A niche ‘Organic’ brand for Indian tobaccos could take a new place in the country’s offerings.

By Sunitha Kolaventy, Executive Director of Indian Tobacco Board

Environmental consequences of commercial Agriculture have been taking a toll on natural resources, in India, calling into question the sustainability of farming. Among the specific practices:

• Excessive use of chemical fertilizers reduced soil fertility to almost zero in intensively farmed regions, degrading the soil carbon levels and soil microbes’ population;.

• Excessive siphoning of ground water for irrigation uses are rendering aquifers dry;

• Chemical pesticides are becoming extremely pervasive in the environment, contaminating the entire food chain;

• Soil erosion and water depletion are leading to more desertification.

Add to all this climatic change, and the ultimate tipping point is increasing the production risks year after year.

The world tobacco industry has embraced the concept of ‘Sustainable Tobacco Production’ (STP) in a big way recently. And sustainability is an important factor that now runs through the entire supply chain and significantly contributes to business success.

(STP) ensures efficient production of quality tobacco under conditions that limit the negative impact on the environment, and in a manner that improves the socio-economic conditions of the people and their communities in the tobacco production areas.

Smt. K. Sunitha, Executive Director and CEO, Tobacco Board of India, leads a tour of natural farming trials.

Tobacco Board has taken up the initiative to popularize STP practices in FCV tobacco cultivation in India for overall development of the Tobacco Industry. A holistic approach is being adopted by the Tobacco Board of India to achieve the ultimate aim of sustainability.

Green Drive Within the framework of ‘Sustainable Tobacco Production’, The Indian Tobacco Board has been working to create a green and sustainable future in tobacco-growing areas of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. It is called ‘Tobacco Green Drive,” and it is a group of initiatives that started in 2018-19.

The first is improving soil health through Green manuring.

The soils in India’s FCV tobacco-growing regions are poor in organic carbon and available nitrogen due to continuous tobacco cultivation and the tropical climatic conditions. Grower awareness programs are being conducted on the necessity of soil health improvement and organizing supply of green manure seed to farmers in coordination with State Departments of Agriculture in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

The persistent efforts of the Board have resulted in an increase in the area under green manure crops over the past few years. In 2019-20 crop season, following a special drive and encouragement to use ‘Dry Sowing’ techniques, an area of 8,000 ha was covered under green manure crops in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

From that point, the industry looked at Organic Tobacco. The areas of FCV tobacco production in general have a continuous tobacco cropping system. There are limited options for crop rotation due to limited land-holding size of the farmers, and tobacco is the main source of livelihood in these areas.

Continuous cropping has resulted in stagnation/decline of crop yields in some zones. Physiological disorders such as false ripening of the tobacco leaves is also on the rise due to soil compaction and degradation of soil structure. In view of the climatic change, tobacco farmers in Prakasam and Nellore districts have faced drought continuously for the last five years. This impacted the yields and quality of tobacco grown resulting in low returns and losses in cultivation. The farmers in Karnataka are also facing crop losses because of either drought or excessive rains. Thus, the increasing crop and market risks in high investment FCV tobacco farming are often resulting in farmers’ distress.

In this background, Natural Farming offers resilience and much needed sustainability to tobacco cultivation. To improve the wellbeing of 90,000 registered FCV tobacco farmers in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and to ensure supply of safe product to customers, the Tobacco Board has introduced the practices of Natural Farming in FCV tobacco cultivation.

This eco-friendly system has been introduced in FCV tobacco cultivation for first time in India in 2018-19 in Andhra Pradesh. The Tobacco Board takes the distinction of pioneering the introduction of such a unique system in FCV tobacco cultivation in the world.

Under this system, the crop is grown using natural formulations prepared from cow dung, cow urine, pulses and jaggery for improving the soil health. Concoc-tions prepared from natural products like green chillies, neem leaves and garlic are used for protecting the crop from pest and diseases. Use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are totally eliminated in the system. The protocols evaluated by the experts of Department of Agriculture, Government of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka state have been followed to educate the growers extensively, regarding the preparation of formulation and concoctions and the adoption of Natural Farming practices in all stages of crop growth.

Natural Farming was taken up on a pilot basis in 2018–19 in each of its 18 Auction platform areas in 18 plots. The specific form is called Zero Budget Natural farming (ZBNF).

Natural Farming was taken up on a pilot basis in 2018-19 in each of its 18 Auction platform areas in 18 plots. The specific form is called Zero Budget Natural farming (ZBNF), which was founded by Shri Subash Palekar. 21 Registered FCV tobacco growers took up ZBNF tobacco cultivation on about 75 acres, and ZBNF tobacco cultivation trials were also taken up in the research farms of National research institutes like Central Tobacco Research Institute (CTRI) at Guntur and Kandukur in Andhra Pradesh.

The growers who have taken up Natural Farming in tobacco cultivation were trained by ZBNF resource persons of Govt. of Andhra Pradesh. The growers and Tobacco Board field staff were also sponsored for a 10-day training program conducted by Each of these growers were attached to Community Research Persons (CRP) of AP ZBNF for continuous guidance, education and trouble shooting. One Field officer of the Board and a Field assistant are continuously monitoring the ZBNF cultivation of tobacco and keeping a record of all activities and growth parameters.

• An analysis of the performance of the trial plots vis-à-vis the control shows that per hectare yields are on par with control plot and there is no significant variance;

• This was as expected since this was the first year of switch over to organic mode and a turnaround time of at least three years would help achieve substantial yield improvements;

• With respect to the quality of the product, the tobacco from Natural Farming plots was much superior to the control. The Natural Farming plots yielded higher Bright grade outturn when compared to the control plots which were grown with chemical fertilizers;

• Overall, net returns to the farmer were better than the control plots in most of the field trails. The Trade also came forward to pay 10 percent higher prices for the tobacco produced under ZBNF cultivation. Tobacco Board had held separate auctions for the ZBNF grown tobacco.

Following the encouraging results of Natural Farming in Andhra Pradesh, Trials on Natural Farming in FCV tobacco cultivation will take place in 2019–20 Karnataka crop season. In Karnataka also trials were undertaken in each Auction platform jurisdiction in about 12 plots covering an area of 43.50 acres. The ZBNF trial was also taken up in the CTRI research farm at Hunsur to evaluate the cultivation scientifically.

The crop grown under rain fed conditions in the trial plots of Karnataka under Natural Farming has performed well and yields are likely to be at par with Control Plots. The tobacco crop under this system was found to be climate resilient, as the crop did not get affected by heavy rains in Mysore. On the other hand, the crop grown under normal conditions using chemical inputs could not withstand extreme conditions.

The objective of cultivating FCV tobacco following Natural Farming techniques is to produce organic tobaccos, which are totally free from chemical pesticide residues. By ensuring product integrity to world customers through production of compliant tobaccos, it’s hoped that a niche ‘Organic tobacco’ brand for Indian tobaccos in the international market will be created.

Editor’s Note: Watch for more on advances in agronomy in Indian tobacco production in future issues of Tobacco International.