Nicotine Restriction Rules Require Decades of Research, Says Agriculture Ministry

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Yudi Wahyudi, Head of the Seasonal Crops Group at the Directorate of Seasonal Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture, has reminded that efforts to reduce nicotine levels are not merely a regulatory matter, but a scientific and agronomic challenge requiring up to 30 years.

Yudi explained that, from the upstream or tobacco production side, this period is needed to provide certainty so that researchers at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and the Ministry of Agriculture can find low-nicotine varieties that remain hardy in tropical fields and efficient for traditional farmers.

“Without such a long transition period, the local industry is certain to collapse first before the ideal seed has been fully researched,” Yudi said in Jakarta on Monday.

He explained that reducing nicotine levels in tobacco plants through traditional cross-breeding (non-GMO) requires a very lengthy genetic selection process.

Each plant generation takes one full planting season. To stabilise the low-nicotine trait without damaging the plant’s resistance to local pests requires dozens of crossing generations.

Furthermore, the nicotine content of local Indonesian tobacco (such as Kemloko in Temanggung or Mole in West Java) ranges from 3 per cent to 8 per cent due to volcanic soil factors and tropical sunlight exposure.

He also stressed that drastically altering nicotine content is effectively the same as changing the geographic identity of the commodity, which ultimately requires natural adaptation across generations of farmers.

Yudi acknowledged that obtaining tobacco with a very low nicotine content of less than 1 per cent, or equivalent to less than 10 mg/g in dried leaves to achieve cigarette smoke emissions of <1 mg, is the greatest biological challenge facing Indonesian agriculture.

“This is because tobacco is one of the most site-specific commodities, where the interaction between the plant’s genetics and the local climate and soil determines the final outcome,” he said.

“Not to mention, tobacco farmers will want to see whether tobacco varieties with low nicotine and tar content have a market or economic value equivalent to the local varieties they have long cultivated. Farmers will look at the profitability of cultivating these new tobacco varieties,” Yudi explained.

Yudi further outlined that, agronomically and scientifically, reducing nicotine to such an extreme level can be pursued through three main pathways. First, Conventional Cross-Breeding, which mates superior local varieties with strong physical characteristics with foreign varieties that are genetically very low in nicotine.

Second, Modern Genetic Engineering (CRISPR Gene Editing), which switches off or deactivates the gene producing the specific enzyme in the roots where nicotine is produced before it is transported to the leaves.

Third, Cultivation Technique Modification (Agronomy), which completely changes traditional planting methods — such as reducing Nitrogen (N) fertiliser, forgoing topping (pruning the shoot tips), and maintaining adequate water supply — all of which can significantly suppress nicotine accumulation in the leaves.

“In general, there is no purely local Indonesian variety below 1 per cent. The majority of our shredded tobacco and kretek tobacco (such as Temanggung, Boyolali, or Garut) naturally ranges between 3 per cent and 8 per cent,” Yudi revealed.

Scientifically, Yudi continued, a 30-year period cannot provide an absolute guarantee that a single new variety can grow uniformly across the whole of Indonesia.

“The inherent character of tobacco is tied to the concept of Terroir (soil suitability, altitude above sea level, weather, and the local microclimate),” Yudi said.