Malong County of Qujing City Launches Land Fertilization Project to Promote Tobacco Production

Source from:  Qujing Tobacco Monopoly Administration 05/07/2012

Malong County of Qujing City in southwest China's tobacco-producing Yunnan Province has launched a project of arable land fertilization to significantly improve the physicochemical characters of the soil of tobacco fields and improve the inherent quality of leaf tobacco, with the focus on applying farmyard manure developed through high-temperature decomposition. The project is intended to greatly improve the structure of leaf tobacco and develop a high-quality leaf tobacco product named "highland naturally aromatic leaf tobacco". Firstly, the county has effectively organized land preparation, applied mechanized deep plowing and thickened the plowing layer, to enhance the water keeping and moisture conservation capacity of soil, promote soil ripening, accelerate decomposition and accumulation of nutrients, and promote the growth and development of the root system of tobacco crops. Secondly, the county has massively generalized application of farmyard manure by organizing farmers to apply farmyard manure developed through high-temperature decomposition to tobacco fields, at a rate of two cubic meters per mu (per 0.067 hectare). Thirdly, the county has used green manure to cover seedlings to increase the organic content of soil, lower soil density, increase activity of soil microbes, curb soil-borne diseases and eliminate harmful contents of soil. And fourthly, the county has organized farmers to spread manure along ditches in order to make manure more effective and ensure the opening of top leaves. By March 30, Malong County had organized farmers to grow 61,000 mu (4,066.7 hectares) of green manure, stack 100,000 mu (6,666.7 hectares) of farmyard manure for decomposition, apply mechanized deep plowing of 90,000 mu (6,000 hectares) of fields, and prepare 60,000 mu (4,000 hectares) of fields for growing crops. Enditem