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KAKINADA, Oct. 25

THE Central Tobacco Research Institute (CTRI) in Rajahmundry has released a new white burley tobacco variety — named Swetha.

The CTRI Director, Dr Kapil Deo Singh, told reporters that white burley tobacco, grown in the agency (tribal) areas of East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts, was known as `Yeleswaram burley' in the international market and it was sought-after in some countries for blending with other tobaccos in cigarette manufacture.

The new variety, Swetha, is resistant to black shank and mosaic pests usually noticed in the white burley tobacco and its performance in terms of yields is also satisfactory. The seeds of the variety are ready for release to the farmers.

Dr Singh said CTRI had worked for 15 years on the variety and it was much better in comparison with the existing varieties of Blanket-A1 and Burley-21, as it had less percentage of harmful substances.

Dr Singh said like most other crops the yields of white burley too would suffer this year due to deficient rainfall in the agency areas of the two districts in the early part of the season. But late rains had helped to a great extent and the quality of the crop was not much affected. Dr Singh, who had been to the US recently to participate in a conference on tobacco, said the export market for the Virginia tobacco from the country may be better this year and CTRI would strive to help the farmers and the trade in boosting tobacco exports.

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