Application of proper technology seen to save ailing tobacco sector

Tobacco farmers and the business sector represented by leaf buyers have agreed that the application of proper agricultural technologies would guarantee high quality production and the survival of the ailing tobacco industry.

This came up at the end of the 2-day Tobacco Summit conference organized by the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) last week.

The summit was also attended by officials of government financing institutions and support agencies whose varying fields of expertise are needed by the farmers.

NTA Administrator Carlitos Encarnacion urged the farmers to strictly comply with the pertinent technology requirements for their crop, be they Virginia, burley, or native tobacco.

"This forum is a wake-up call," Encarnacion said during the first day of the summit.

Earlier, the NTA chief had aired the need to raise the quality of local tobacco to make it globally competitive.

It was noted that some farmers had been resistant to new farming technologies resulting in inferior quality yield.

In the summit, he asked the traders and representatives of tobacco buying firms to be more supportive of the needs of the farmers.

He urged the business sector to collaborate with the NTA in its research and development inputs by way of extending their financial resources to put the research work into application.

Lack of funds had stymied the work of the NTA research group headed by Dr. Perlita Baula.

Winston Uy, president of the Philippine Aromatic Tobacco Dealers Association (PATDA), acknowledged the country’s alleged back seat position in quality tobacco production.

"There’s a global competition out there," he said. "Our so-called quality tobacco are not really high grade (ones) in the world market," he added.

But the farmers through president Carlos Cachola of the Philippine Association of Tobacco-Based Cooperatives (PATCO) blamed the massive importation of tobacco as the culprit.

Cachola alleged that their woes started in 2001 when leaf buyers started importing tobacco from China to the detriment of the local tobacco produce.

PATCO had petitioned the Agriculture department to cause the reduction if not total stoppage of tobacco importations which began when the country became a member of WTO-GATT.

Cachola and his group, however, recognized the need to upgrade their produce.