Group lauds P200M grant allotted for tobacco farmers to plant rice

CEBU, Philippines - The Health Justice group has lauded the government’s effort to provide P200 million in production loans to tobacco farmers who will plant rice during the wet season.

“In addition to the declared objective of rice self-sufficiency by 2013, this move is actually a health measure," said   Irene Reyes, HealthJustice legal counsel.

She said the government should roll out more projects that will help our tobacco farmers’ shift to economically viable crops as “this is in accordance with our obligation under the Articles 17 and 18 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC)."

Reyes said tobacco-producing LGUs are receiving more than P1 billion a year in tobacco excise taxes that are used for tobacco promotion, which is contradictory to the global commitment to move away from tobacco farming.

"It will be good to further see these money go to funding financial support for farmers who wish to stop farming tobacco, along the lines of what RA 9211 promised almost 10 years ago," Reyes added.

The R.A .9211, also known as the Tobacco Regulation of 2003, provided financial support programs to tobacco farmers and workers who wish to shift livelihood. However, all these expired in 2008.

“As part of a comprehensive tobacco control strategy, the government should start reducing the supply of tobacco," said Reyes.

Tobacco farming is chemically intensive, as the tobacco crop requires heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides. Tobacco farmers are also likely to suffer from pesticide poisoning, lung damage, and “green tobacco sickness”--a form of nicotine poisoning that causes nausea, vomiting and dizziness.

“The planting of such a deadly crop with no positive effects should never get government support. This crop just flies in the face of the Department of Agriculture's push for organic agriculture and it is just right that the Department gives support so that food can be planted instead of tobacco.” Reyes added.

According to Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo, “The government should provide assistance to all farmers with the aim of boosting food sufficiency in the country." Dorotheo is the project director for the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance’s Southeast Asia Initiative on Tobacco Tax. (FREEMAN)