Recent rains and snowfall in the NWFP and the Northern areas would leave negative impact on overall crops production in the province. Tobacco production too, will be badly affected. The flue-cured Virginia and burley tobacco crops are more susceptible to hailstorms, windstorms and virus attacks.

Since tobacco crop is sensitive to environmental factors, management practices should be introduced to minimize the environmental effects. Tobacco, a minor Rabbi crop, is mainly cultivated in three provinces including the NWFP, Punjab and Balochistan.

But in the NWFP, majority of farmers grow it as an important source of income. Different varieties are grown in different agro-ecological regions depending upon the usage either for personal or for sale in the local markets. About 50 per cent of the tobacco is used in the production of cigarettes. Dark tobacco is used for bidis, hookah, smoking, snuff and chewing.

Though area under this crop has been reduced by 28.05 per cent due to anti-smoking campaigns but its production has increased by 86.91 per cent. It is cultivated on a relatively small area - 0.27 per cent of the total irrigated land.

The yield per hectare of cigarette-type tobacco has increased from 916kg in 1967-68 to 2380kg in 2003, an increase of 160 per cent. In the year 2004, production of flue-cured Virginia, dark air-cured, white patta and burley was 52.690, 0.910, 10.980 and 1.970 million kg, respectively.

Pakistan produces 73.5 million kg tobacco per annum on average. But the growers have potentials to produce 112.5 million kg, if crop is sowed on time, plant population per acre is followed, highly potential cultivars sown, cultural operation like topping and control of suckers are taken care of, picking takes place accordingly, produce handled carefully, and proper storage to avoid post-harvest losses is ensured.

Tobacco is an important crop as its impact on the economy of tobacco producing, exporting and importing countries is well pronounced. The crop is a source of revenue, employment and foreign exchange earnings. Its contribution to the national exchequer was Rs23 billion during 2003-04 in the form of central excise duty and the sales tax.

Huge labour is required for different fields, as well as for crop management operations including soil preparation, cultivation, sowing, irrigation, fertilization, topping, and curing etc. Overall, some 80,000 persons are involved in its cultivation.

There are 26 tobacco factories in the country where 50,000 persons are employed. One million are indirectly engaged in the industry. Being an important source of foreign exchange earnings, its contribution was $13.226 million during 2003-2004.

Among climatic factors, rainfall, snowfall, light, temperature and wind play a significant role on yield, production and quality. Number of plants per unit area, number of leaves per plant and the leaf area index are yield determinants of tobacco crop.

Number of leaves per plant can neither be increased nor decreased through management practices because these are genetically controlled. However, exploiting gene pool, the number of leaves per unit area can be increased. Using seed rate and other inputs in recommended amount, the number of plants per unit area can be maintained. Leaf area index depends upon the type of cultivars.

In order to save tobacco industry, it is imperative to help growers cultivate the crop on scientific lines. Without doing enough for increasing the yield per unit area, we would be dragging the country to import raw materials worth Rs7 billion for tobacco industry that would be an additional burden on the national exchequer.

It is, therefore, a need to increase the yield by promoting quality produce and reducing the cost of production. An improved production technology is required for nursery raising, field crop, curing and grading on qualitative basis. Disease-resistant cultivars should be introduced in accordance with the climatic conditions of a particular zone to boost the yield.

Disease attack on crop is widely reported. Timely control of disease through application of the recommended pesticide is important to avoid quantitative and qualitative losses.

Timely topping and control of suckers is essential to improve the quality of leaves. These operations are performed manually while the crop is still in the fields. To avoid any damage to plants during topping and de-suckering, it is necessary to employ trained labour.

Modern technology for curing of tobacco leaves should be disseminated among the growers. Planting of modern tobacco - Bulk Curing Burns imported from Greece at each tobacco research station is a good attempt to facilitate curing on scientific basis. It would be a shift from manual curing to mechanical curing.