Ministry of Agriculture: Developing Low-Nicotine Tobacco Requires 30 Years of Research

The plan to limit nicotine and tar content has faced strong opposition from tobacco farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture, responsible for managing this strategic commodity, has indicated it was not fully involved in the regulatory discussions. Yudi Wahyudi, Head of the Seasonal Crops Group at the Ministry, stated that the ministry was not comprehensively included because the draft regulation is based on a health law mandate rather than agricultural law. However, the ministry continues to provide support by supplying relevant data on tobacco commodities. Yudi explained that from a production perspective, researchers need 30 years to ensure the availability of low-nicotine varieties that are resilient in tropical lands and cost-effective for traditional farmers. He noted that lowering nicotine content in local tobacco through non-GMO crossbreeding is a very long genetic selection process. To stabilize a low-nicotine trait without damaging the plant’s resistance to local pests requires dozens of crossbreeding generations. Yudi emphasized that drastically modifying nicotine levels is akin to altering the geographical identity of the commodity, which demands a natural adaptation period spanning generations of farmers. From an economic standpoint, he added that without a transition period of at least 25 to 30 years, the regulation could cause the local tobacco industry to collapse before suitable alternative varieties are ready. He described the challenge of achieving less than 1 mg of nicotine in cigarette smoke from local tobacco, which naturally contains high nicotine levels due to volcanic soil and tropical sunlight, as the biggest biological challenge for Indonesian agriculture.