Friday’s tripartite conference for native type of tobacco proved fruitful to the farmers as traders agreed to raise the floor prices to P5 a kilo for the high grade classification.
The two medium grade categories are up by P4 and P2.50 a kilo while the two low grade classes got P2 and P1.50 increases per kilo.
Manuel Talaue of Ilagan, Isabela and Andy Reyes of San Manuel, Tarlac who are the farmers’ negotiators told The STAR they got more than they expected in the negotiation. "We are very happy for the outcome of the conference," they said.
The traders were led by Andrew Filler of Lancaster Philippines, Serafin Gonzales, president of Tabacalera, and Benjamin Pua of Isabela Leaf Tobacco Inc.
The conference was held at the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) training room in Quezon City where Virginia and burley tobacco farmers and traders had their own tripartite meet on Aug. 25.
The NTA is attached to the Department of Agriculture headed by Secretary Domingo Panganiban.
Both conferences were presided by NTA Administrator Carlitos Encarnacion who is credited by the farmers for the "unprecedented" outcome of the negotiations.
Philippine Association of Tobacco Based Cooperatives president Carlos Cachola, in acknowledging Encarnacion’s role in the two conferences, said it’s the first time the farmers got "big" floor price increases.
Past tripartite meetings resulted in P1 to P1.50 a kilo increase, he said. Virginia and burley tobacco got P3.50 and P3 across the board increases.
The new floor prices for native tobacco are: high grade-P43; M-l-P34; M-2-P26.50; L-1-P20; and L-2-P11.50.
Encarnacion said that the setting of floor prices is a strategy to ensure that farmers get a reasonable profit margin for their yields but traditionally trading prices are higher than the floor prices especially when the tobacco produce are of high quality.