Farmers seen to earn more from new tobacco technology

BACNOTAN, La Union – A leading cigarette manufacturing company may have a good reason to be happy this tobacco season. Company-assisted farmers have been turning in high quality virginia leaves at a ratio of 95 percent-five percent with the least percentage representing the poor or "reject" types.

Philip Morris agronomist-consultant Ricardo Boettcher told newsmen that 3,975 farmers, under contract with Philip Morris, have adopted a company-designed technology program.

The number of participating farmers surpassed those enrolled last year by 19 percent which was 3,345 farmers.

According to Paul Adalia, also a Philip Morris agronomist, their technology involved the proper use of fertilizer and crop protection agents, good agricultural practices, use of high quality and high yielding seeds, and updated during techniques.

He claimed that under their technology, tobacco production is increased by 30 to 40 percent.

Philip Morris representatives which also included Normelio Limberger and Elmer Mesina, earlier in Bangar town, introduced the company’s Tobacco Identity Preservation Program (TIPP). The program was chiefly aimed to safeguard against genetic-modified tobacco in the light of the cigarette maker’s steadfast "commitment" to buy only conventional tobacco.

GM tobacco have allegedly been raised in other countries but none has been reportedly noted yet in the Philippines. Philip Morris has allegedly adopted analytical methods which would discover GMOs in tobacco from its seed phase to leaf harvest.

"The tobacco industry is born again," a visibly happy Robert Tria, manager of Continental Leaf trading center here said as the group of Ilocos newsmen entered his plant.

The trading center has been buying tobacco leaves for Philip Morris.

Bad weather had destroyed the farmers’ crops during the last three years.

Tria said that only five percent of leaf shipments brought in his plant are "rejects," a claim shared by Ferdinand Fabros, a Philip Morris-retained farmer in Paracpac Este, Balaoan town.

Fabros had just fully harvested from his three-hectare farm when visited and has posted 7,000 kilos. Apart from receiving a loan assistance of P120,000 payable after harvest, he was also provided with a Philip Morris-designed curing barn where his produce were cured.