MANILA, Philippines – Tobacco, known all along as raw material for cigarettes and cigars puffed by smokers, has emerged as a versatile crop with an array of beneficial uses, research and development work of the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) showed.
All from the stalks and leaves of the crop, the product-discoveries from tobacco are seen to help stave off in no small measure the negative effects of the global economic crisis.
It was learned that with the support of Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap and the leaders of the tobacco producing provinces headed by deputy national security adviser Luis “Chavit” Singson, the relentless and continuous efforts of NTA researchers have resulted in the successful technological processing of the tobacco dust and the tobacco virgin pulp, both pioneering products.
NTA Administrator Carlitos S. Encarnacion said the environment-friendly tobacco dust, in pilot test applications in fishponds in Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan and Isabela, was proven to be an effective molluscicide against snails and other fishpond pests without any residue in fish harvests. It also enhanced the growth of the “lablab” (algae), a pond fishfood.
Encarnacion is also confident that the agency will be able to get funds for vital machineries and equipment to produce virgin pulp from tobacco stalks. The pulp is needed for the manufacture of handmade and commercial paper.
The NTA has been working hard for the discovery and development of other beneficial products from the crop to boost the income of the tobacco farmers and generate employment in line with the program thrusts of the Arroyo administration.
Encarnacion said NTA researchers have also formulated tobacco extract concentrates that are efficient against “sucking” insects that damage vegetables and mango “hoppers” that victimize mango fruits.
The organic concentrate is effective against pests found in cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, okra, cowpea, eggplants, pole sitao, watermelon and ornamentals (flowers) according to Rex Antonio Teoxon, planning department manager and concurrent chief of the NTA industrial research department.
He said that vegetables harvested in many areas in the country have a high pesticide residue level due to widespread use of toxic chemical pesticides adding that the use of the tobacco-based pesticide would do away with such risky toxic chemical residues.
Another promising NTA discovery is ethanol. The alcohol extracted from tobacco was found to have up to 92-percent purity.
Amado Dilig, chief of the techno-laboratory services and instrumentation division of NTA’s Industrial Research Dept. said the “encouraging” analysis was tendered by the Ateneo de Manila-based Philippine Institute of Pure and Applied Chemistry (PIPAC).
Cottage industry items like paper/gift bags, baskets, belts, floor tiles, particle and panel boards, lampshades and others have also been produced from tobacco leaves and stalks by NTA personnel in collaboration with the Cottage Industry Technology Center (CITC) headed by Director Franklin Bunoan.
Bunoan and his staff have been training NTA personnel in the CITC compound in Marikina which is an agency under the Dept. of Trade and Industry. The technology learned will be re-echoed to tobacco farmer-cooperative members.