NTA launches rice production program for tobacco farmers

VIGAN CITY – With the onset of the rainy season, the National Tobacco Administration (NTA), following the directive of Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr., has set the agency in motion for the shift from the just concluded tobacco season to rice production involving tobacco farmers.

NTA Administrator Carlitos Encarnacion said rice production project of the tobacco agency is geared to help achieve the increased income and food security thrusts of President Arroyo for the farmers and the country.

He said the tobacco-rice program of the NTA is in line with the target of Lorenzo to attain rice sufficiency for the country.

NTA’s rice production endeavor, which follows after the tobacco crop has been harvested and traded, has yielded encouraging results and is intended to uplift the livelihood of tobacco farmers.

Conducted under the agency’s Integrated Farming and Other Income Generating Activities Project (IFOIGAP) – Rice Component, the project has produced for the tobacco farmers an increasing average yield from 2.71 tons per hectare in 1999 to 5.43 tons/ha. in 2003.

The output far exceeds the national average yield of 3.2 tons/ha. for irrigated rice lands, it was learned.

The NTA, in collaboration with the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), extended vital support to the tobacco farmer cooperators in terms of financial production assistance, technology, as well as technical and marketing assistance.

NTA’s pool of tobacco production and regulation officers have been deployed to help the farmers and ensure that the proper technology is put in place, NTA farm development manager Robert Bonoan reported.

It was noted that as a result of the "resounding" success of the project, the aggregate income of the tobacco farmers has increased significantly. A total of 2,258 farmer cooperators participated in the rice project last year, NTA records show.

Encarnacion announced that with the farmers periodically increasing the quantity and improving the quality of their yields, the NTA is looking forward to expanding the coverage of the project to 2,800 ha. Involving 5,600 farmer cooperator in the coming rice season.

He said this would mean a government exposure of P26.6 million in production assistance which he said the NTA is requesting Quedancor to provide under the latter’s Financing Program for Self-Reliant Farmers.