Heat Takes Its Toll on Tobacco Cultivation in a Campaign of Some 23 Million Kilograms

Heat waves above 40 degrees have burned tobacco leaves on some of the 6,400 hectares planted in Spain this year, but despite this, the contract review in June confirms a production of around 23 million kilos, compared to 22.23 million in 2024. This was explained to Efeagro by Dionisio Sánchez, board member of the National Federation of Tobacco Growers and manager of the Agricultural Transformation Society (SAT) TAB Association Group - the largest producer cooperative - who assured that, "despite the suffocating heat, there will not be significant damage". So far, the sector has not quantified the production loss due to heat, in a crop "that withstands well up to 35 degrees"; it is on alert in case high temperatures cause premature flowering or an increase in nematode diseases. Sánchez lamented that last year the European Union (EU) banned the application of 1,3-dichloropropene as a nematicide for tobacco, "because the substitutes available in the market are not as efficient". ...