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MANILA, Philippines - State-run National Tobacco Administration (NTA) said production this year would be flat amid unfavorable weather.
Edgardo Zaragoza, NTA administrator, said tobacco production is likely to reach 80 million kilos for the crop year 2011-2012.
“Originally, we expect about a five percent increase from last crop year or more than 80 million kilos, but we decided to have more conservative estimate,” he said.
“The harvest season was also delayed by almost a month due to changes in weather in the Ilocos region. But we remained hopeful that we will hit 80 million kilos since Cagayan region was not affected by the rains,” Zaragoza said, adding that the harvest season would be completed in August this year.
The NTA revised its production figures to 79.3 million kilos for crop year 2010-2011 from the earlier 78.4 million estimate. The value likewise was raised to P5.3 billion from P4.8 billion.
NTA raised the floor prices of Virginia tobacco as a result of a recently-concluded tripartite conference among government, farmers, and dealers.
Zaragoza said Virginia tobacco would cost P74.50 per kilo, up from P70. “As of now, we have only raised floor prices of Virginia since we still have not started harvesting Burley and native tobacco. But we also expect prices for various grades of tobacco to increase starting this year,” he said.
The NTA has provided more than P90 million worth of production assistance to farmers this year, higher than the P36 million a year ago. “So far, a total of 3,860 tobacco farmers in over 2,700 hectares were provided with loan packages and other production assistance,” Zaragoza said.
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