Tobacco farmers get P210-M assistance

MANILA, Philippines — The National Tobacco Administration (NTA) has provided P210 million worth of assistance to tobacco farmers in Ilocos to produce about 6.5 million kilograms of cured tobacco this year.

This will constitute 14 percent of the targeted national production volume of 45 million kilograms for the current crop year as the government continues to adapt the market-oriented and technology-based production system through contract-growing arrangement between buyers and farmers.

Under the Tobacco Contract Growing System (TCGS), tobacco buyers provide the inputs required for the production and guarantee to buy all the tobacco contracted at the prevailing prices, but in no case shall be lower than the floor price per kilogram per grade of tobacco.

NTA administrator Robert Seares said farmers under the contract growing system have been assured of ready access to new technologies, extension, training and information, credit assistance and prompt payment of their harvest, among others.

Of the P210 million, bulk or P115 million was given to farmers in the form of cash for land preparation, fertilizers, pesticides and suckerides.

Last cropping season 5,143 hectares of tobacco farmlands were cultivated by 8,331 tobacco farmers under the contract growing system.

Last year, production reached 43.39 million kg valued at P3.18 billion.  The country earned an average of $344 million in export revenues from this.

Last September, the NTA approved higher minimum buying prices for native, Virginia and Burley tobacco for  ths year until 2019.

For Virginia tobacco, which makes up almost 60 percent of the total local production, the floor price for the top grades increased to P82  per kg for Grade AA, P81 for A, P80 for B, P78 for C, P70 for D, and P69 for E.

For Burley, the price for top-grade A rose by P2,  bringing the price to P70 per kg. The floor price for Grade B is now P67 and P58 for C or an increase of P2 for both.

Low grade Burley also increased to P47 for D, P46 for E and P38 for F.

The floor prices for native high-grade tobacco were increased from P70 to P71, medium 1 from P58 to P60, and medium 2 from P48 to P50.

Tobacco has been the cash crop of the people in the Ilocos Region. The industry has been generating enormous revenue in the form of excise taxes for the national government.