Introduction

Several species of insects pose severe threats to tobacco in the fields, the greenhouses,and in storage structures. Insects damage the roots, destroy the leaves and buds, reduceleaf quality, and transmit several important tobacco diseases. In tobacco production, the common pests affecting the crop are aphids, Lepidoptera caterpillars (cutworms, budworms) and whiteflies. In order to have a good yield, these pests must be appropriately controlled. Approved and recommended agrochemicals through TORITA with low toxicity are the ones used in tobacco crop when biological control methods are not applicable.

Growth of suckers is activated by topping tobacco plants, which is the removal of the terminal bud or flower and a few of the young leaves. Sucker control can be accomplished by frequent removal by hand or by chemical treatment. Hand removal is very laborious and an expensive operation that must be repeated weekly.TORITA, therefore, is recommending removal of suckers using suckercides which can stop active leaf growth to enable enlargement of the harvested leaf. The suckercides currently recommended is the one having two active ingredients butralin(18%) and flumetralin(12.5%). Thus, suckers need to be eliminated because the presence of suckers may lead to the decrease in tobacco leaf weight because suckers compete with economic parts of the tobacco plants, which are leaves and nutrients.

Procedures for agrochemicals evaluation/efficacy trials

All agrochemicals intended to be used in tobacco crop need to undergo evaluation/efficacy trials at TORITA after receiving an endorsement letter from the Registrar of Pesticides of Tropical Pesticides Research Institute (TPRI).The procedures for agrochemicals trials/evaluation are indicated below;

1.Write a request letter to the Registrar of Pesticides, Tropical Pesticides Research Institute (TPRI) informing the intention to conduct agrochemicals evaluation trials on tobacco crop. Trials purpose, pests, or diseases to be controlled by the active ingredients of the agrochemical need to be listed.

2.The TPRI Registrar of Pesticides will write a letter to the TORITA Research Director endorsing to conduct the agrochemical efficacy, evaluation or trial and submit to TPRI a technical report regarding the efficacy of the agrochemicals.

3.TORITA after receiving an endorsement letter to conduct agrochemical trialfrom TPRI will provide a control number to the client to pay trial fees in local currency equivalent to US$ 2000 per product.

4.Upon payments of the trial fees, a lead researcher will be appointed by the Head of Research Department to carry out trials for at least three years for a new active ingredient product.

5.Once a technical report is finalized, submission of a technical report with a covering letter to the TPRI Registrar of Pesticides follows immediately.

6.TPRI will not/or register agrochemicals based on the TORITA technical report recommendations.

7.A registered agrochemical to tobacco crop through TPRI will be officially in use for tobacco crop based on the application rates.