Colombia: "I won''t let tobacco growing to end in this country"，Ministry of Agriculture

Source from:  Protectfarmers.tobaccoleaf.org 05/26/2015

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Aurelio Iragorri Valencia, guaranteed that, as long as he remains in charge of the Ministry, he won't let tobacco growing to end in Colombia.

Tobacco growing in the country uses some 11,000 ha, employs over 2,7 million working days and provides a livelihood to over 13,000 rural families.

At the opening of the 2nd Tobacco Growers' National Congress, in San Gil, Santander, Minister Iragorri informed that tobacco growing uses some 11,000 ha, being the Department of Santander the largest tobacco-growing region with 56 percent of total planted area in the country.

Tobacco growing gives employment to 2,7 million working days and provides a livelihood to over 13,000 rural families, who employ from 230 to 250 workers each in production activities.　In average, one hectare of tobacco creates 2,5 full-time jobs.　"For these reasons, I won't let tobacco growing to end in the country."

To date, the Ministry of Agriculture has allocated more than $ 11,7 billion pesos to the tobacco-growing sector.　Growers have received $ 3,543 billion pesos in financial support and instruments under the Rural Development with Equity Program (DRE) and $ 4,013 billion pesos to support their crop insurance scheme, informed the Minister.

Last year, 1,434 hectares or 14 percent of total area planted to tobacco (11,000 ha) were insured.　This sector is the beneficiary of the Crop Insurance that covers risks such as climate events and outbreaks of pests and diseases.

Also noteworthy is the use of the Finagro credit facilities for an amount of $ 76,535 billion pesos by the tobacco-growing sector in the last five years to finance the tobacco crop.　In addition, tobacco growing has been included among the productive activities eligible for the Special Credit Facility since 2011.

For his part, Fedetabaco manager Mr. Heliodoro Campos highlighted progress made by the tobacco-growing sector in social, productive, business and environmental issues over the last years.

"This has been achieved through the joint work and efforts made by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Agrarian Bank of Colombia, the Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation (Corpoica), Finagro, the tobacco industry and, of course, tobacco growers' associations", said Mr. Campos. Enditem