Batac hosts tobacco summit

Tobacco farmers of Northern Luzon lauded the holding of the tobacco summit on good agricultural practices (GAP) last Thursday saying it gave them ways to improve and elevate the quality of their crop.

Held in Batac, Ilocos Norte, the summit was undertaken by the Department of Agriculture through the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) with the close collaboration and support of Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. (PMPMI), Universal Leaf Philippines Inc. (ULPI) and Trans Manila Inc. (TMI).

NTA Administrator Carlitos Encarnacion thanked Chris Nelson, PMPMI managing director, ULPI president and vice president Winston Uy and Alex Uy, and TMI president and vice president Marjorie Diong and Matthew Diong for their involvement. 

The NTA chief cited Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap for his strong leadership and continuing support for the tobacco farmers.

“This (summit) means a lot to us as it gave us inputs on increasing the overall quality of our leaf production that would, in turn, boost the earnings of  the farmers,” said Andy Reyes, vice president of the Philippine Association of Tobacco-Based Coperatives (PATCO). 

Earlier, NTA deputy administrator Orkhan Usman underscored the importance of the summit in his opening address. 

The GAP summit drew a big number of farmers from Regions 1 and 2 and CAR . Expert agronomists and technologists from the private sector and NTA took turns in imparting their specialties on the farmers. ULPI’s agronomy director Russel Cartwright was among the private sector speakers.

Meanwhile, Encarnacion announced the holding of a tripartite conference on virginia tobacco tomorrow. 

The conference will set the floor prices of the various grades of virginia tobacco to guide the conduct of leaf trading for the next two years. The confab, which is held every two years, will be attended by the farmers, tobacco buyers, and NTA officials.

Local officials from the virginia-producing areas have also been invited with Ilocos Sur Governor Deogracias Victor Savellano expressing his interest to attend. 

Savellano had earlier spearheaded a local summit in Vigan City that came out with a proposed set of floor prices which he will submit for deliberation on Monday’s  tripartite confab.