<strong>China: Chinese County Successful in Growing Indonesian Cigar Leaf Tobacco</strong>

Source from:  TobaccoChina Online 09/25/2013

Laifeng County in central China's Hubei Province has been successful in growing leaf tobacco for making cigars introduced from Indonesia over the past three, reaping a good harvest with the average amount of income from it reaching a high of 3,500 yuan (565 U.S. dollars) per mu (per 0.067 hectare) in 2013.

In 2011, Laifeng County introduced the H382 tobacco variety for making cigar cores from Indonesia and launched a pilot project of test-growing of the variety. The growing of the H382 tobacco variety in Laifeng has been proven quite successful, and has won full affirmation by experts with the tobacco industry of Hubei.

China Tobacco Hubei Industrial Co., Ltd. in Hubei and China Tobacco Chuanyu Industrial Co., Ltd. in southwest China are both planning to establish exclusive bases for growing cigar leaf tobacco in Laifeng, with heavy investment in preparation for large-scale growing of the H382 tobacco variety and intensive and deep processing of leaf tobacco of the variety for cigar making.

In late August, China Tobacco Hubei Industrial Co., Ltd., China Tobacco Chuanyu Industrial Co., Ltd., etc sent teams of experts to the Baifusi Township Cigar Leaf Tobacco Growing Base in Laifeng County to conduct an appraisal of air-cured cigar leaf tobacco there, determining that the maturity of the leaf tobacco was relatively good, that the burning performance of the leaf tobacco was good, that the oil and water content in it were both moderate, that the thickness of the leaf tobacco was appropriate, and that the quality of aroma of the leaf tobacco was relatively fine, with relatively minor stimulation, with an excellent mouth feel, with a watering and sweet aftertaste, and with the style of the original place of production in Indonesia.

So far in 2013, Laifeng County has chosen to continue growing the H382 tobacco variety in Baifusi, Dahe and Jiusi Townships in it, with a total acreage of 700 mu (46.7 hectares), and with the participation of more than 30 tobacco-growing farm households.

Under technological guidance offered by tobacco companies at the provincial and prefecture levels and Hubei Provincial Tobacco Sciences Research Institute, Laifeng County has exerted all efforts to launch research of the complete set of technologies for the growing, curing and fermentation of the H382 tobacco variety. After conducting tests, the county has achieved initial successes in research in terms of the seeding time, transplantation time, fertilizer application, density, curing, fermentation, etc, and has been successful in basic exploration of technologies in the process of field growth of the tobacco variety, with the cigar leaf tobacco produced there basically reaching or even partially exceeding the quality standards of leaf tobacco of the same variety grown in Indonesia.

So far in 2013, the H382 tobacco variety grown in Laifeng has been of a high output and a high quality, with a unit output of 65 kilograms per mu (mu 0.067 hectare), and with the average amount of income for tobacco growers expected to reach a high of 3,500 yuan (565 U.S. dollars) per mu (per 0.067 hectare).

Laifeng County is planning to increase the acreage the exclusive bases for growing the H382 tobacco variety in the county to a total of 1,500 mu (100 hectares) in 2014. Enditem