Improving Tobacco Yield and Quality

Agriculture plays a pivotal role in Zimbabwe and is the backbone of the country’s economy. To date, tobacco is one of Zimbabwe’s most valuable crops. It accounts for about 26 % agricultural gross domestic product and 61 % of agricultural exports. It is therefore important to work towards continuously improving its yield and quality. This book,therefore seeks to enlighten tobacco farmers on how they can improve their tobacco yield and quality through best management practices. Leaf priming removal can improve the yield and quality of flue-cured tobacco. To ascertain this, a field experiment was carried out at Kutsaga Research Station to investigate the possibility of improving yield and quality of cured leaf by removing the lower leaves (primings) and applying additional nitrogen to the remaining leaves. The experiment was laid out as a split plot experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications. This book describes the experiment and findings from the study. It also outlines some conclusions and recommendations to both tobacco farmers and future researchers.