Philippines: Tobacco Farmers Shifting to Corn

Source from:  Manila Bulletin  03/26/2014

A number of tobacco farmers in the province have shifted to planting corn to escape the "high expenditures in planting tobacco" and disputed the claim of authorities that tobacco prices hxsave gone up.

"We could not actually feel that the price of tobacco has gone up this year," said Mayor Josefino E. Miranda of this town.

Himself a tobacco farmer and buyer, Miranda explained that once farmers start planting tobacco seedlings, they will have to seek loans to finance their tobacco plants until harvest time.

But with tobacco prices down, Miranda said a number of tobacco farmers fear they will not be able to raise enough to repay their loans, much less, gain a profit.

Their answer to this problem – shift to planting corn.

The National Tobacco Administration (NTA) has kept on issuing press statements that the prices of tobacco has gone up this year, a claim denied by many farmers.

Tobacco farmers in this town, for instance, have challenged NTA Administrator Edgar Zaragoza to tell them where to sell their tobacco leaves.

"Itudo koma ni Administrator Zaragoza no sadino ti pakailakkoan toy tabako mi ti nangina nga presyo nga kunkunana (Point to us, Administrator Zaragoza, where to sell our tobacco that you claim commands a high price," said "Mang Reynante," a tobacco farmer in Barangay Baraoas.

These complaints have reached the office of Governor Ryan Singson, who said yesterday that he is setting a meeting with tobacco farmers and conducting a study to compare tobacco prices from last year.

Several tobacco farmers here claimed that the prices of Class A A (Virginia tobacco leaves) has an average only of ranging from P68 to P72 per kilo, way below to the prices last year of P77 per kilo. Enditem