Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB) has been striving hard to improve yield and quality of tobacco crop in the country. In this connection, the problems of fertiliser application, use of pesticides against tobacco pests and diseases of tobacco have been adequately overcome due to continuous research process at the Board's Research Stations. In the recent past years the tobacco crop has been attacked by virus diseases due to intensive farming and other multiple reasons.

Though the loss due to virus is negligible, however, the board is making serious efforts at protecting the tobacco crop from virus diseases.

For this purpose, the Pakistan Tobacco Board has constituted a committee on the problems of virus of tobacco crop in which experts on virology. Plant protection and allied fields from the PTB as well as other organisations have been included.

The committee held its first meeting on February 15 in the board headquarters and discussed the problems of virus on tobacco crop in detail.

The committee recommended that the problem may be tackled on long-term basis by the board in collaboration with other research organisations in Pakistan and in this connection ample funds may be allocated by the government. The committee also formulated short-term strategy on virus control, which included sanitation, judicious use of pesticides against tobacco pests and crop rotation etc.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005