DA urged to use tobacco lands for rice plantation

Advocates of anti-tobacco on Thursday asked the Department of Agriculture (DA) to utilize lands in the Ilocos region planted with tobacco to instead be planted with corps in particular rice, following the reported shortage.

"In the light of the rice crisis, whether real or artificial, we urge our agriculture officials to list as priority task the pouring of infrastructure to the Ilocos region to encourage Ilocano farmers to plant rice instead of tobacco," said Dr. Maricar Limpin, executive director of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance-Philippines (FCAP).

Limpin also noted that Congress should pass laws that promote rice farming instead of promoting Virginia tobacco farming, which is very opposed to the principles of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to which the Philippines is party to, and embodied in Republic Act (RA) 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act.

"It is ironic that in the midst of the rice crisis, the tobacco farmers are celebrating tobacco harvests. Tobacco is one product that has no real value and can only cause harm. On the contrary, rice is our staple food and all Filipinos will suffer if we don't have enough of this," added Limpin.

The Philippines as one of the parties to FCTC of the World Health Organization (WHO) is constrained to promote economically viable alternatives for tobacco workers, including farmers.

"Certainly rice farming should be one of them," Limpin said.

Records of the Bureau of Agriculture Statistics (BAS) showed that the Ilocos region posted 1,642,3301 metric tons (MTs) of palay (unhusked rice), contributing almost 10 percent of the 16,240,194 MTs of total palay production in 2007.