Tobacco Farmers Thumb Down Other Crops

Source from:  Manila Times 03/01/2012

A group of tobacco farmers has nixed planting alternative crops amid the looming imposition of the Palace-backed uniform taxation for cigarettes, saying that alternative crops will earn then paltry profit. This was revealed during the recent hearing conducted by the House Committee on Ways and Means on House Bill 5727 which states the Department of Finance's proposal for a unitary tax system, and the substitute bill to HBs 2484, 2485, 2687, 3059, 3183, 3332, 3465, 3489, 3666 & 4787 seeking the retention of the current excise tax structure on alcohol and tobacco products and imposing automatic and moderate tax increases starting in 2013 up to the year 2017. Asuncion Miñano Lopez, representative of Sudipen Integrated Tobacco Farmers Association in Sudipen, La Union, told the House Ways and Means panel that the planting of alternative crops, mainly vegetables, is not a sustainable source livelihood since vegetables have a small market compared with tobacco. "Those bahay-kubo crops sold in the market come in small baskets, not industrial crops. We already tried alternative crops, but we always go back to planting tobacco since these [alternative crops] are not profitable," Lopez said. In bolstering her claims, Lopez cited that in 2007 alone, the town of Sudipen got a P16 million share from the tobacco excise tax collection. Their share increased to P42 million in 2010, but dwindled to P30.5 million in 2011. Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares has argued that farmers can still continue to plant tobacco even after the implementation of hiked "sin" tax considering that the Philippines sports a big export tobacco market, tobacco can be used for other things other than cigarette and that the House Bill 5727 provides P4.5 billion for the tobacco farmers who will be affected by the measure, if there are any. But Lopez refused to buy such reasoning, saying that farmers cannot secure loans thru a financial scheme which is friendly to their budget if they will plant alternative crops. Joan Latuja of Action for Economic Reforms disputed Lopez's claims, saying that farmers would not be adversely affected by the unitary tax system in the first place since tobacco farming has been declining ever since. "In 1990, the land devoted to tobacco farming is at 63,200 compared to the current area devoted to tobacco farming which is only 29, 707 as of 2010. This is based on the official data of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS)," Latuja said. Enditem