Embedding CSR at the core turning the table, PMFTC gives back to tobacco farmers

MANILA, Philippines – Corporate social responsibility has always been an integral part of leading cigarette maker PMFTC’s corporate strategy.

PMFTC, a joint venture between global cigarette giant Philip Morris and taipan Lucio Tan’s Fortune Tobacco, places a high premium on its CSR program because it believes that success is not only measured by the traditional financial bottom line but with what one gives back to communities where it is doing business as well.

Through its CSR brand Embrace,  PMFTC aims to improve people’s quality of life.

Under EMBRACE are various projects implemented through partner agencies. These are in the areas of education, poverty alleviation, environmental protection and disaster relief, touching the lives of close to 1.5 million Filipinos to date.

And because its business relies on tobacco farmers, PMFTC does not forget to give back to the agriculture sector.  It  trains its leaf technicians and farmers on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Agricultural Labor Practices (ALP).

The company constantly seeks to promote safe and fair labor practices on all farms where it buys it tobacco leaves. This initiative covers a comprehensive campaign against child labor in all facets of tobacco farming, fair treatment for farmworkers, and observation of fair working hours with due compensation, ensuring a safe work environment, freedom of association, and compliance with labor laws.

PMFTC through its partner NGO also organized and strengthened 30 peoples’ organizations with a total membership of 1,442 farmers in the tobacco-growing municipalities in La Union, Ilocos Sur, Isabela, Cagayan and Occidental Mindoro. These organizations sustainably operate on their own and maintain assorted trees and bamboos.

The company’s efforts did not go unnoticed.  Just last year, PMFTC won top CSR Company of the Year at the Asia CEO Awards while Embrace won the CSR Program of the Year for Asia, Australia and New Zealand Bronze Award at the International Business Awards in Toronto, Canada.

The tobacco firm also received the Agricultural Labor Practices — Health, Safety and Environment Program of the Year for Asia, Australia and New Zealand Bronze Award at the International Business Awards in Toronto, Canada.

PMFTC, in partnership with implementing NGOs and local government units, simultaneously implements 25 different Embrace projects in various parts of the country, reflecting its strong commitment to CSR.

It has extended sustainable assistance to over 1.5 million people nationwide.

“What differentiates us is the sustainability part. It’s part of the DNA already. We implement it as we go on with the business everyday,” PMFTC external affairs director Varinia Elero-Tinga told The Star in a recent interview.

After the successful business combination in 2010, PMFTC has implemented several GAP projects that benefit around 5,000 tobacco farmers year on year. The three pillars of its GAP are people, environment and crop.

PMFTC has put in place a monitoring system to provide information on labor practices in tobacco growing areas to ensure that its farmers practice fair labor treatment.

“A communication system was put in place for farm workers to directly relay concerns or feedback to PMFTC and to the appropriate agency,” PMFTC said.

PMFTC also ensures a safe working environment for tobacco farmers through its distribution of full set of personal protective equipment per farmer.  Apart from this, it provides dedicated storage cabinets for crop protection agents.

“More than 11,000 CPA Lock-ups have been distribu-ted since 2013. There are also trainings and seminars on farm safety, first aid training in partnership with the Philippine Red Cross and disaster risk reduction and mitigation trainings,” it said.

In the area of environment, PMFTC is involved in a reforestation management with partner, Jaime V. Ongpin Foundation Inc.

The project aims to put up sustainable fuel wood plantations managed by well-organized and income-generating tobacco-farmers’ organizations or cooperatives. It engages the tobacco farmers by allowing them to determine organizational policies and negotiate with the landowners.

“This project is multi faceted. It covers various Sustainable Development Goals, which replaced the UN Millennium Development Goals — on building sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, initiating climate action and protecting life on land,” PMFTC said.

Under the project, members of each cooperative go through a series of management, livelihood and technical trainings and assistance to ensure effective plant management.

So far, 285,854 trees for  fuel wood and 8,650 bamboos had already been planted across 195 hectares of plantations located across the country by the 30 cooperatives that have been organized.

PMFTC also has a  reforestation project which is geared toward establishing a sustainable source of fuel wood for the use of cooperatives.

A sub-component of this initiative is the development of a seedling nursery to support the many greening projects of PMFTC.

On top of the cooperatives’ tree planting project, there are also independent tree-planting activities implemented by the company.

“To date, we have planted more than 4.5 million trees across the country — 3.5 million tress through PMFTC reforestation and more than one million in other tree-planting activities. Each tree can be located via Global Positioning System,” PMFTC said.

Moving forward, the tobacco giant aims to achieve sustainability by 2020. “This means we will have everything we need,” Elero-Tinga said.

To date, the company’s plantations have around 70 percent to 80 percent survival rate.

For the crop pillar, PMFTC provides CPA lock-up facilities for CPAs or Crop Protection Agents and other pesticides that are harmful to one’s health. This is to ensure that the CPA is in safekeeping and not accessible to children.

The company also came up with tobacco clippers to lessen the incidence of child labor.

Sticking tobacco is the initial part of the curing process wherein leaves are arranged and skewed on sticks one by one. A farmer spends an average of 275 hours in sticking tobacco. Thus, to speed up the process, they ask their children to assist them to save time.

“This is something we want to avoid. With the use of clippers, 55 hours is already enough to complete a hectare of tobacco leaves. That is 220-hour labor savings with no need for child labor.  Tobacco clipping saves time, saves money and saving children from farm labor,” PMFTC said.

For crop year 2015, PMFTC had distributed 273,248 pieces of tobacco clippers to around 700 tobacco farmers across the country.

Another project meant to improve the tobacco crop is PMFTC’s Venturi furnace project, a specially designed furnace that efficiently distributes heat inside the curing barn, which in turn, cuts fuel wood consumption of about 28 percent.

Under this project, PMFTC has distributed more than 200 units of Venturi Furnace via a scheme wherein PMFTC subsidizes 75 percent of the unit cost and the farmer pays the remaining 25 percent.