Controlling Tobacco Moth and Cigarette Beetles

Yvonne Mutava

Tobacco moth and cigarette beetles although small in appearance, cause significant destruction to stored tobacco and are considered the most harmful creatures to tobacco in warehouses.

Tobacco moth, also known as ‘Ephestia Elutella’ are external feeders which feed on tobacco leaves and other materials such as cotton seeds although they prefer tobacco with more high sugar content like flue-cured tobacco. 

Ideally, a farmer should clean and check boilers, clean out tobacco scrap in sheds, wash his equipment, paint walls with white wash and treat his barns and sheds with insecticide as well as burn left over tobacco leaves and scrap so as to prevent pests and disease carryover.

For some farmers it has become natural to abandon their barns after curing their tobacco as they focus on the sales floors, since they are not aware that the pests feed on anything from tobacco scraps, dust, fines and any other form of dirty left in the barn. 

The moth is most harmful to cured leaves in its caterpillar / larvae state hence tobacco farmers ought to inspect their crop to screen for tobacco moth and if found get rid of it before it develops into its adult stage and fly to new materials. 

  

When the caterpillar has fed enough, it crawls away from the tobacco it would have fed on, spinning silken webs, evidence of long infestations.

Spider Webs are indicators of pest activities and reason for fumigation to take place.

As they move on floors and walls which are usually dirty, mature caterpillars hide in cracks, gaps and ceiling spaces, spinning small often dust covered silken cocoons in which they pupate.

These pests move quickly after infesting tobacco thereby making it more difficult to control by merely fumigating the tobacco / bales hence farmers should take heed when storing their tobacco as they might lose a whole lot to these tiny creatures.

When inspecting for the pests, one can use a magnifying glass or flashlight as the pests are attracted to light. 

  

If found the entire storage facility would need to be closed up and fumigated in order to eliminate both the pupae and the adults. 

Farmers are also urged to put wire mesh of appropriate gauge on doors and windows which stay open in order to prevent insects from entering as pests can fly several kilometres from neighbouring farms and sometimes distant places.

Consequently, farming practices in the community are everyone’s concern and if one farmer does not destroy stalk, every other member of the community’s tobacco is at risk as a result. 

When tobacco bales infested with any of these pests are found on the sales floors (auction or contract), they are quarantined and fumigated at the tobacco farmer’s expense, and this does not only inconvenience the farmer as it interrupts the selling process for everyone. 

  

Rarely are broken down equipment and obsolete machinery discarded on farms, instead they are stored often in barns where they accumulate dirt and tobacco residue thereby providing suitable haven for moths and pests.

These seemingly harmless creatures are required by the law through the Plant Pest and Diseases (Plant and Alternative Hosts) Order of 1976 to be reported to government authorities whenever they are seen as they can contaminate and destroy vast amounts of tobacco.

Farmers who will be selling their tobacco at the auction floors should note there will be the use of the electronic marketing platform at all the auction floors, namely Boka Sales Floor, Tobacco Sales Floor and Premier Tobacco Sales Floor this season and farmers will be able to follow the selling process on screens that have been installed at the floors.  

For additional Information contact
TIMB on telephone numbers 08677004624/6 or 0772145166/9 or 0279-22082/21982 or 025-3439 or 067-24268/29246 or 0277-2700 or 064-7280 or 0271-6772 or Toll Free Numbers 08006003 / 0731999999 / 0712832804 or WhatsApp 0731999999 or E-mail: info@timb.co.zw