Tobacco prices up

The National Tobacco Administration (NTA) announced yesterday that the tobacco trading season formally started last Monday. NTA Administrator Mert Ellorin said the farmers are much better off now because prices are good.

Reports from NTA fieldmen indicate that trading centers in Candon, Ilocos Sur were buying Virginia tobacco at P69 per kilo, well above the declared floor prices for the various grades and types of tobacco.

Ellorin attributed this to the high quality of this season’s produce. This, in turn, is due to the farmers’ diligence in subscribing to NTA-approved farming technology with the assistance of the agency’s pool of technicians who are maintaining round the clock monitoring of tobacco farms, he added.

NTA has put in place stringent measures to arrest the tobacco crop’s declining quality during the previous season including disallowing "salty" farmlands from tobacco planting.

The salty character of some lands, so-called because of their high chlorine content, had been identified as the culprit in the poor crop production last season which gravely affected the income of the farmers.

The ban against salty lands, however, was compensated with a breakthrough tobacco production in Tuba, Benguet that was initiated by NTA, Philip Morris Philippines Inc., and Trans Manila Inc.

The Benguet farmlands which used to host Baguio vegetables are producing highgrade yields surpassing in quality those from the Ilocos lowland, it was learned.

The NTA chief also lauded tobacco buying firms for their participation in the quality production with their contract growing programs involving many tobacco farmers.

Philip Morris has erected a training school in barangay Tubaan Norte in Tuba, Benguet with NTA’s and the cigarette company’s tobacco farming experts imparting technology inputs to the area’s Ibaloi farmers.