SWABI: The ‘brown spot disease’ has attacked Virginia tobacco in Swabi due to continuous rainfall and delay in harvest of the crop.

Officials of multinational and national tobacco companies told Dawn that it was a dangerous disease that attacked the crop during the harvesting period. The leaves of tobacco are more vulnerable to the disease when the curing is delayed by the growers in the raining season.

They said that other reasons of the disease were continuous growing of the same kind of tobacco, frequent downpours and cultivating sensitive varieties.

The leaf manager of a multinational company, who visited tobacco crop in tehsil Chota Lahor, said that the disease had destroyed 50 per cent of the crop. “The problem is the attitude of growers, who consider themselves experts. When they are advised to cultivate particular variety of the crop they say that their forefathers had grown tobacco and they have been in the field since their childhood so they know better than us,” he added.

Torrential rains and delay in harvesting of the crop are main reasons of the disease

The experts believe that the disease-hit tobacco can’t be exported to other countries. Even small cigarette manufacturers have refused to buy the affected tobacco from the growers. The farmers are forced to take their yield to the purchasing centres of multinational buyers.

The officials of the companies said that it was the best time for harvesting and curing of Virginia tobacco when its leaves turned medium green. The crop was attacked by brown spot disease when its curing was delayed, they added.

“It is our mistake that we grow the same variety of tobacco again and again. This trend should be changed,” said Miraj Mohammad of Sodher village.

Said Ghawas of Pirtab village said that the brown spot disease badly agonised him and he was no more visiting his fields.

Meanwhile, the growers have given up the past practice to separate different diseased-hit flue-cured Virginia (FCV) grades and take the same to various purchasing centres of the companies.

When the crop is cured, the growers make bundles without any grading but there are 11 grades of FCV and the price of each one is fixed by the leaf manger according to the rules set by Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTB).

An official of a company said that a few months ago a foreign officer visited their depot and asked for showing grade of FCV. After inspecting the purchased tobacco, the officer said that it was multi-grades FCV, he added.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2015

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