Tobacco farmers bounce back

Tobacco farmers in Cagayan Valley are beginning to get back on their feet after heavy rains and flooding in January brought about by the La Niña phenomenon practically wiped out their entire harvest this season.

Through the help of Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. (PMPMI), the farmers are now rebuilding their farmlands as well as their hopes and dreams.

PMPMI recently sent emergency relief aid to the region, specifically in Isabela, where thousands of farmers lost income while hundreds of hectares of farmlands were wrecked by the heavy downpour and flood waters.

Aside from the relief goods that consisted of dried goods, PMPMI managing director Chris Nelson assured farmers that the company will buy all the crop harvests of the tobacco farmers in the next planting season as long as they meet international quality standards.

"Farmers in these areas have basically lost their only means of income or sustenance for the next five to seven months," Nelson said. "This is clearly a disaster for us but even more to the farmers and their families whom we have worked and assisted for more than 20 years," he added.

PMPMI allocated P4.1 million in relief and rehabilitation assistance to all the affected tobacco farmers. This is aside from the assistance they are currently getting from tobacco leaf supplier Universal Leaf Philippines Inc. in terms of making the farmers’ land productive again.

"In times of disasters or calamities, Philip Morris is even more committed to help the farmers. We hope that through our contribution, we will be able to help the farmers and their families get back on their feet and be able to resume their tobacco growing livelihood in the next crop season," Nelson said.

"We are committed to improve the lives of communities where we operate and do business. The tobacco growing community is very much our partner and a very important stakeholder in the Philippine tobacco industry," he added.

PMPMI has been helping thousands of farmers in Northern Luzon — from the establishment of shallow tube wells for irrigation to the setting up of livelihood programs to augment their incomes to the creation of the country’s first tobacco training school.

Tobacco training school

The school, for instance, gives free education to farmers who want to learn good agriculture practices while protecting the environment. Farmers also learn more about the Tobacco Identity Preservation Program (TIPP) — a system involving the sampling of tobacco from seed to leaf to determine the quality of the crop.

"The training center is PMPMI’s commitment to the production of quality tobacco," Nelson said. "We will continue to assist communities where we live and work, and we will continue to play our role as a responsible cigarette manufacturer to address some of their needs in a meaningful and sustainable way."

Nelson said the training school is situated in an area favourable for growing tobacco.

Located some 4,000 feet above sea level, farmers in Barangay Tubaan Norte, Tuba, Benguet were taught on the rudiments of tobacco farming inside a public elementary schoolbuilding that was refurbished through the help of PMPMI and TMI.

There, the farmers are learning the basics of tobacco planting inside a spacious concrete building, complete with tables, chairs, blackboards, electric fans, an audio system, a kitchen as well as a field laboratory and a curing barn.

"It’s a school near the clouds," said TMI general manager Matthew Diong.

At least 50 farmers have signed up for the training in 2005. In 2004, about the same number of farmers enrolled for the six-month training. "They really want to grow tobacco as an alternative crop," Diong said.

Farmers in Benguet are now shifting to other means of livelihood because of the dwindling prices of their crops such as carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, pechay (bok choi), cabbage, and string beans.

Benedict Lumauig, deputy administrator of the National Tobacco Administration (NTA), said they cannot blame the farmers for choosing to plant tobacco because the leaf fetches better prices in the local market.

Virginia tobacco harvested in Benguet appear to be better in quality compared to those grown in the lowland because of suitable soil and climate conditions.

PMPMI said good agriculture practices such as soil and water management, correct use of pesticides and fertilizers, and awareness of the farmers on health and safety issues, also contributed to a robust crop.

Aside from planting tobacco, the farmers learned how to build low-cost curing barns.

Curing barns

About 200 of these barns will soon be built across Northern Luzon, using old cartons and drums that were donated by PMPMI.

The donation came after TMI discovered that the old cartons were more economical to use compared to hollow blocks and galvanized iron sheets, which are the preferred materials of the farmers when they construct their curing barns.

TMI, which has been supplying PMPMI with quality Virginia tobacco, also found out that the old cartons could keep more heat compared to other materials.

"With these cartons, construction costs could go down by as much as 30 percent, while fuel costs could drop by 20 percent," TMI said.

The curing process plays a major role in final leaf quality, and the skill of the farmer is crucial to bringing out different tobaccos’ characteristic tastes.

Virginia tobacco is cured in a process called "flue curing." The tobacco is hung in specialized curing barns where heated air removes water from the leaves. This process takes up to a week, during which time the temperature must be constantly monitored and gradually increased. Too much heat or cold at any stage of the process will have a negative impact on quality.

Once cured, the tobacco leaves are sorted by the farmer according to stalk position and leaf characteristics, packed into bales and delivered to an auction floor or receiving centre where leaf buyers, like TMI, carefully judge the quality of the leaves by variations in colour, texture and aroma.

TMI said farmers have to spend around P65,000 to build a curing barn. The farmers also have to shell out an additional P16,000 for fuel.

To help the farmers save on construction materials and fuel costs, PMPMI will provide 45,700 second-hand C-48 cartons as well as 600 drums to the Philippine Band of Mercy (PBM). PBM, in turn, will distribute these cartons and drums to farmer-beneficiaries.

Dams and shallow tube wells

PMPMI also helped establish a water-impounding dam in an upland community in Barangay Daking, San Gabriel, La Union, where farmers were reportedly fetching water as far as three kilometres away to water their crops.

Through the help of Lorma Community Development Foundation Inc., PMPMI contributed to the establishment of this water facility to ease the farmers’ burden as well as improve the quality of their harvests.

PMPMI also committed to help put up several shallow tube wells in other parts of the Ilocos region.

In an agreement with the Yakap sa Kalikasan Tungo sa Kaunlaran ng Pilipinas Inc. (YKKPI) through the assistance of the First Philippine Conservation Inc., PMPMI will help build these wells in areas that would be identified by the environment group.

According to YKKPI executive director Nelson Martinez, many farmers are already having difficulty in sourcing water. "Normally, the farmers get their water from rivers near their farms, or fetch pails of water from their homes or from their neighbors’," he said.

"For those living near coastal areas, water there has become too salty for irrigation. This stunts the growth of tobacco or it may even kill these crops," Martinez added.

If water were only more accessible and readily available in their farms, the growers believe they can keep up with most of the demands of local tobacco companies.

More than irrigating the tobacco, the group added that the availability of water will actually entice them to plant other crops whole year round.

As soon as the shallow tube wells have been built, Martinez said the farmer-beneficiaries have agreed to share the resource to adjacent farms as well as take responsibility for maintaining the wells.