Plant Rice, Not Tobacco, Says Health Alliance

A health alliance against tobacco today urges the Department of Agriculture to help the farmers in the Ilocos region plant alternative crops like rice, following the reported rice shortage facing the country today.

“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,” Dr. Maricar Limpin, executive director of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance- Philippines (FCAP), said in a statement.

Limpin added that Congress should pass laws that promote rice farming as opposed
to RA 7171 that promotes 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 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,” said Limpin.

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

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

Limpin pertained to Article 17 of the FCTC which states that parties shall, in cooperation with each other and with competent international and regional intergovernmental organizations, promote, as appropriate, economically viable alternatives for tobacco workers, growers and, as the case may be, individual sellers.

According to the Bureau of Agriculture Statistics, the Ilocos region posted 1,642,3301 metric tons of palay, contributing almost 10 percent of the 16,240,194 metric tons of total palay production in 2007.

“This share of the country’s total palay production can be significantly increased if Ilocos farmers are given support such as irrigation so that they can plant rice twice a year. The farmers alternately plant tobacco during the dry season and rice during the wet season,” Limpin pointed out, adding that tobacco farming should be scrapped altogether.