Tobacco Board gives suggestions to growers

Ongole: The officials of Tobacco Board in Ongole offered suggestions to the tobacco farmers to save the crop from the effect of recent rain in the area.

The regional manager of the southern black soils, G Umamaheswara Rao said that a number of villages growing tobacco witnessed considerable rainfall on January 26 and 27 in the Prakasam district. 

He informed the farmers that due to the wetness in the soil, the crop will try to grow again now and results in the growth of water quantity in the leaf. 

He suggested the farmers not to pluck the leaf immediately as it will black the leaf but asked to leave it on the plant for one more week so that the leaf will stiffen before plucking. 

If the farmers are in the 6th or 7th plucking stage, he suggested that they should keep the leaves on wet jute bags and close the barn for suffocating, to get a better quality leaf.