Rajamahendravaram: CTRI celebrates platinum jubilee today

Rajamahendravaram: Central Tobacco Research Institute (CTRI) is organising a platinum jubilee celebration on Wednesday at 10 am. Director of ICAR-CTRI Dr M. Seshu Madhav said that there will be an international conference at the NTR Convention Centre in Adikavi Nannaya University (AKNU) from December 14 to 16.

Addressing a media at CTRII Conference Hall on Tuesday, he explained that ICAR Secretary Dr Himanshu Pathak, AP State Agriculture Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy, ICAR Additional Director General Dr DK Yadava, Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) Vice-Chancellor Dr R Sarada Jayalakshmi Devi, AKNU Vice-Chancellor Prof K Padma Raju, Rajahmundry MP Margani Bharat Ram, MLAs Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary, Jakkampudi Raja, Tobacco Board Chairman Ch Yaswanth Kumar Chidipothu, Executive Director Dr A Sridhar Babu will participate in the programme.

Madhav said that ICAR-IHR Director Dr SK Singh will be the chief guest at the international conference starting on December 14. He said that the organisation which was Indian Central Tobacco Centre (ICTC) in 1945 and was transformed into CTRI in 1947 and was merged with ICAR in 1965.

The ICAR- CTRI (Central Tobacco Research Institute) is celebrating its Platinum Jubilee celebrations on completing 75 years in the service of tobacco.

Dr Seshu Madhav said that India has 14 per cent of the area of global tobacco crop and 13 per cent of the global production. Tobacco is cultivated in an area of 0.433 million hectares and is second in the world. 18 different types of tobacco are grown in our country.

The FCV and Burley varieties are cultivated for export purposes. During the year 2022-23, a revenue of Rs 9,740 crore was earned through exports and Rs 23,357 crore through excise revenue. He said that so far CTRI released 103 high-yielding hybrids and

varieties.

About 120 production and protection technologies have been developed. It provides 90 per cent of the seed requirement for the cultivation of tobacco. Around 500 research papers, many prestigious awards, recognitions, patents, and copyrights, 3386 tobacco germplasm accessions are in the history of the CTRI. Tobacco production in India has increased almost 2.8 times in the past seven decades, from 275 million kg to 761 million kg.