Rains ruin P325-M tobacco plants in Ilocos

SAN FERNANDO CITY — Rains spawned by the diffused tail-end of a cold front have destroyed tobacco plants worth P325.03 million in the Ilocos region.

In a report, Carlito Encarnacion, of the National Tobacco Administration (NTA), gave Edgar Nigel Lontoc, regional director of the National Disaster and Coordinating Council (NDCC) based at Camp Florendo here, a provincial breakdown of the damage.

The breakdown: Ilocos Sur, P174.08 million; La Union, P94.37 million; Pangasinan, P30.44 million; and Ilocos Norte, P26.14 million.

NTA has adopted remedial measures to cushion the effects of the crop losses to tobacco farmers.

Farmers have borrowed most of their capital from a private tobacco contractors and financing institutions.