Tobacco farmers to go into food production

SANTA, Ilocos Sur — Tobacco farmers will soon be into food production to further increase their incomes.

Ilocos Sur Governor Luis "Chavit" Singson turned over last week the management and operation of the provincial government-owned Multiline Food Processing Plant to the National Tobacco Administration (NTA).

Singson formally transferred management and operational control of Multiline to NTA Administrator Carlitos Encarnacion Tuesday night during the signing of a memorandum of agreement held at the Dept.of Agriculture in Quezon City.

Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban and Philippine Association of Tobacco-Based Cooperatives (PATCO) president Carlos Cachola also signed the agreement.

PATCO is the umbrella organization of various tobacco farmer groups in the country.

Under the agreement, the tobacco farmers will supply vegetables, mangoes, bananas, hogs, chicken and tomatoes which Multiline will process and package for the consumers’ market.

NTA would provide the farmers with the assistance they need in raising food and fruit crops as well as swine and poultry.

Actually, this is nothing new to tobacco farmers who have long been raising other crops, including rice, which they plant when the tobacco season is over, Encarnacion said.

The NTA traditionally extends production assistance to the farmers under its program called Integrated Farming and Other Income Generating Program (IFOIGP), he said.

With the Multiline plant’s requirements at stake, they are expected to raise more.

Cachola welcomed their participation as producer-suppliers. "We will now have a steady and ready market for our produce and our income will increase," he told The Star.

"This project will also generate additional employment for our families," he added..

To finance this project, Encarnacion told reporters that NTA is tapping a P300-million fund from its share of cigarette excise tax collections as mandated by R.A. 415.

The bulk of expenditures will be dispersed as production loan assistance to the farmers and, consequently for the purchase of their produce, it was learned.

Singson said the P400-million processing plant located in Labut, Santa,.Ilocos Sur used to manufacture sausages, canned meat and fish products, tomato paste, fruit juices and dried fruits.

He said he ordered a halt to Multiline’s operations due to poor management. But with the DA and NTA helping out, he expressed confidence that the company will turn around.

Panganiban assured Singson that marketing of the processed food products will be the responsibility of his department’s Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS).

The DA chief is confident Multiline’s production will help bring down the prices of food products in Metro Manila.

Encarnacion said that with Multiline back in operation, the NTA-Ilocos Sur government undertaking will go a long way to help achieve Goals 1 and 2 of the Agriculture department and President Arroyo’s agenda concerning food security and job generation.