Our approach to soil conservation and improvement is not based on a standard solution. We believe the best solutions for each situation are reached by testing and adapting available technology for each area, depending on the local soil conditions, climate and topography.

Soil management involves applying varied techniques to improve soil fertility and create the best growing conditions, while avoiding soil loss or deterioration. Techniques our companies promote widely include no tillage or minimum tillage, using 'green' manure and planned crop rotation, to minimize problems such as soil erosion or depletion of soil nutrients.

Our subsidiary in Sri Lanka, Ceylon Tobacco Company, has introduced a major soil protection and improvement programmed to Sri Lanka , now adopted as part of the country's farming system.

Sloping Agricultural Land Technology, or SALT, prevents soil erosion across hilly terrain while rejuvenating the soil.

It involves planting fast-growing, nitrogen-fixing leguminous sticks on the contours of hills, which grow to form double hedgerows five meters apart. Between these, the branches are regularly lopped, spread, and allowed to turn into mulch. The mulch enriches the soil with nitrogen, and the hedgerow roots prevent the fertile topsoil from being washed away.

Permanent crops such as coffee or pepper are planted between the hedgerows in the newly enriched soil, and livestock are introduced to the land.

Ceylon Tobacco introduced farmers to SALT in 1989 at the government's request, helping to return an impoverished farming community to prosperity by transforming an area left barren by years of slash and burn farming. It has been adopted more widely in Sri Lanka , and although it was not introduced to generate tobacco growing, many of the tobacco farmers who grow on sloping land have also adopted it.

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