Three new tobacco varieties for Malawi’s growers

Malawi’s Agricultural Research and Extension Trust (ARET) has introduced three new tobacco varieties that are said to be pest and disease resistant, and fast maturing.

The release of the three new varieties, ARET Barley Hybrid (ABH) 12, ABH 31 and ABH 43, was announced by ARET’s deputy director responsible for extension and specialist services, John Nyangulu, during an agricultural field day on Friday at Nselema in Machinga.

Nyangulu said the three varieties were ideal for Machinga because they could withstand diseases such as Nematodes and Fusarium Wilt, commonly known as Mandolo and Chikhosi respectively.

ARET cautioned growers against recycling seeds of the three newly introduced varieties, saying that doing so would negatively affect quality and production.

ARET, which was established in 1995 to develop and disseminate tobacco technologies through research, has research stations at Mwimba in Kasungu, Kandiya in Lilongwe and Kabwafu in Mzimba.