Tobacco Growing Beneficial to 48 Tuba Farmers' Health

Source from:  Philippine Daily Inquirer (ph) 06/14/2004

As the country prepared for school opening this week, 48 farmers lined up for graduation at Tabaan Norte, a remote village in Tibaan, Benguet. Some of these farmers have never gone beyond elementary school but then the Philippine Tobacco School is no ordinary school. The First Philippine Tobacco School was established by the Trans-Manila Inc., a tobacco leaf buyer, to prepare the tobacco industry for the new challenges brought about by globalization and the passage of the Tobacco Regulatory Act. Here the farmers are taught the early crop system to produce high-quality Virginia tobacco. Tobacco used to be grown only in the lowlands, particularly in the Ilocos and Isabela provinces, but Matthew Diong, TMI vice president for operations, noted the deteriorating quality of the tobacco leaves. Its main buyer, Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. (PMPMI), which manufactures the Marlboro and Philip Morris cigarettes, was equally worried. Diong searched far and wide to look for alternative places in the Ilocos to plant tobacco, but he ended up in Benguet. Tabaan Norte is about 4 km from Marcos Highway but it is a high and winding road to the farms. Finding the right place is one thing, but convincing the farmers to cultivate tobacco leaves was quite another. After all, tobacco farming is more laborious and it takes longer to harvest tobacco leaves than temperate vegetables like Baguio beans and carrots. But importation of cheap vegetables and expensive inputs like pesticides and fertilizers made it harder for the Tabaan farmers to sell their goods at the right price. TMI and PMPMI, thus, offered the farmers an alternative: Learn the proper rudiments of tobacco farming, produce tobacco and within the next three years, they will buy all the tobacco that the farmers can produce. The farmers gave it a try. With the help of the Philippine Tobacco Administration and foreign and local consultants from the PMPMI, the farmers were given a five-month training on the ABCs of early crop system of tobacco farming. "These farmers have never grown tobacco. We had to provide them the right training and right application to come up with quality produce in the market," said Richard Boetcher, PMPMI agronomist consultant. The farmers were made to cultivate tobacco as they listened to lectures given by their teachers. They were taught not to repeat the bad habits of some lowland farmers like misapplication of fertilizers and premature harvesting. Curing tobacco and the building of modern curing barns were also taught. Protecting environment Boetcher said the farmers were taught to protect the environment while planting tobacco. In January this year, the first harvest of these farmers impressed Philip Morris executives. From 35 hectares of rolling hills, the farmers produced 57 tons of Virginia tobacco. "Their produce is remarkable for new farmers. The overall quality is very positive and very good," said Mark Johnson Hill, leaf manager of PMPMI. "Right infrastructure, soil and technology contribute to quality tobacco and in this industry right now, the key is quality, quality, quality," Hill said. "This proved that farmer's education can produce quality tobacco," said Chris Nelson, PMPMI managing director. "They passed the high quality standards of PMPMI and we purchased all of it." Benguet Rep. Samuel Dangwa said with the massive importation of cheap vegetables from China, Australia and other countries, Benguet farmers should look for other markets. "Perhaps at this time, it is encouraging to see new crops being produced. The farmers in Tuba cannot rely on 100-percent vegetable production and high-quality tobacco is acceptable," Dangwa said. Class valedictorian 29-year-old Mila Bayangan, who used to plant string beans in her one-fourth hectare plot, decided to plant 10,000 tobacco plants on half of it and was able to earn about 50,000 pesos. Although she acknowledged that it is harder and longer to plant tobacco, she said that she might expand her tobacco plot. Other farmers like barangay captain Eugene Palispis had bigger plots and were able to earn a bigger profit from planting tobacco compared to when they were planting vegetables. And since tobacco is just a five-month-a-year crop, the farmers can go back to their vegetables for the rest of the year. Diong said the group plans to expand the tobacco farms in Tabaan Norte and nearby areas to 70 hectares. They will also recruit new students for the second batch of the tobacco school. For these farmers, tobacco is not so dangerous to one's health. Enditem