ILOCOS FARMERS 05-03-06

	Nordis Weekly, March 6, 2005
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Ilocos farmers want P75/kilo for tobacco
VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur (Mar. 3) — Led by the Solidarity of Peasants against Exploitation, (STOP-EX), farmers in this province demanded a P75/kg price on tobacco. Julian Daoa, STOP- EX chairman, stated that number of tobacco farmers and the area of farms planted to tobacco declined this year. “The cost of production continues to rise as the prices of the produce remains under the controls of transnational corporations through their controlled trading centers. Prices are dictated by them through their classification and grading systems to the disadvantage of the farmers”, Daoa said. Trading centers in different municipalities price tobacco at various ranges: P55-60/kilo in three trading centers in Candon; P49-55/kilo in two trading centers in Narvacan. Magsinggal, San Juan, Cabugao and Sinait Ilocos Sur, have four buyer-agents, ULTC with P55/kilo, Lucky Star with P57/kilo, Star Trading with P55/kilo and PCTC with P50-54/kilo. According to Daoa, these buyers failed to meet farmers’ demands, such that most of the farmers nowadays were convinced to enter into the contract growing scheme. In this scheme, trading centers provide farmers’ pre-planting, cultivation, harvesting and post harvest facilities as a loan that they have to pay upon selling of their produce. This loan is given to farmers in the forms of pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers and equipment they need. Prices of these inputs remain the prerogative of the trading centers. On the part of the farmers, they have to produce on the agreed number of kilos. If the farmers’ does not meet the contracted number of kilos, he is forced to buy from other farmers who have extra produce. If not, he will be penalized by the trading center he had an agreement with. If his produce is more than the contracted number of kilos, the trading center is not obliged to buy the excess. Furthermore, the price is fixed based on the contract. The farmers said that RA 7171 (excise tax) fund would be of great help to them if genuinely implemented. They said however, that Ilocos LGUs and Ilocos congressmen mostly benefit from the tobacco excise tax. Farmers also called for a stop to trading centers’ “no-buying tactics” and classification schemes. # A. Austin for NORDIS
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	Nordis Weekly, March 6, 2005
Home \| To bottom	Previous \| Next
Ilocos farmers want P75/kilo for tobacco
VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur (Mar. 3) — Led by the Solidarity of Peasants against Exploitation, (STOP-EX), farmers in this province demanded a P75/kg price on tobacco. Julian Daoa, STOP- EX chairman, stated that number of tobacco farmers and the area of farms planted to tobacco declined this year. “The cost of production continues to rise as the prices of the produce remains under the controls of transnational corporations through their controlled trading centers. Prices are dictated by them through their classification and grading systems to the disadvantage of the farmers”, Daoa said. Trading centers in different municipalities price tobacco at various ranges: P55-60/kilo in three trading centers in Candon; P49-55/kilo in two trading centers in Narvacan. Magsinggal, San Juan, Cabugao and Sinait Ilocos Sur, have four buyer-agents, ULTC with P55/kilo, Lucky Star with P57/kilo, Star Trading with P55/kilo and PCTC with P50-54/kilo. According to Daoa, these buyers failed to meet farmers’ demands, such that most of the farmers nowadays were convinced to enter into the contract growing scheme. In this scheme, trading centers provide farmers’ pre-planting, cultivation, harvesting and post harvest facilities as a loan that they have to pay upon selling of their produce. This loan is given to farmers in the forms of pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers and equipment they need. Prices of these inputs remain the prerogative of the trading centers. On the part of the farmers, they have to produce on the agreed number of kilos. If the farmers’ does not meet the contracted number of kilos, he is forced to buy from other farmers who have extra produce. If not, he will be penalized by the trading center he had an agreement with. If his produce is more than the contracted number of kilos, the trading center is not obliged to buy the excess. Furthermore, the price is fixed based on the contract. The farmers said that RA 7171 (excise tax) fund would be of great help to them if genuinely implemented. They said however, that Ilocos LGUs and Ilocos congressmen mostly benefit from the tobacco excise tax. Farmers also called for a stop to trading centers’ “no-buying tactics” and classification schemes. # A. Austin for NORDIS
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