A tobacco company has sealed
an agreement that paves the way for outreach projects for tobacco farmers in
the Ilocos and Cagayan
Valley
Mighty Corp through its president retired General
Edilberto Adan and retired Judge Oscar Barrientos signed an agreement with the
National Federation of Tobacco Growers’ Association and Cooperatives (NAFTAC)
represented by its national president Mario Cabasal to pursue joint projects
that will uplift tobacco farmers under the former’s corporate social
responsibility (CSR) program.
The cigarette firm has already delivered 90 diesel-fed water
pumps and 16 units of power tillers to various farm groups in the provinces of
Abra, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Isabela and Cagayan, the
country’s top producers of the yellow leaf tobacco.
The company said it will also sponsor the college education
of 100 new high school graduates who are sons and daughters of tobacco farmers
under the National Tobacco administration’s three year-old scholarship program.
It also plans to support the NTA’s yearly search for the
best tobacco farmers in the country.
NTA Administrator Edgar D. Zaragoza has said the company’s
CSR will boost the tobacco industry.
“The more players dealing directly with the farmers, the
better and merrier,” he said.
“This should encourage other industry players to do the same
to help the tobacco farmers and their familes," he added.
Mighty Corp. has earlier announced it is ready to buy 10
million kilograms of tobacco leaves directly from farmers. It also promised to
buy all the leaves that other players in the industry could not absorb.
Farmers have been producing an average 70 million kilos of
the golden leaf in the past five years, half of which was sold to cigarette
manufacturers, the half exported to markets abroad.
The 10 million kilograms Mighty promised to buy represents
one-fifth of tobacco leaves sold to local cigarette manufacturers.
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