Mighty Corp vows to promote organic agri pesticide in the country

Several months ago, Filipino-owned tobacco manufacturer Mighty Corp plans to promote an alternative use for tobacco. The said method will help reduce Filipino farmers’ reliance on chemical-based pesticides. And it will increase tobacco farmers’ income, and protect the environment.

According to Mighty’s executive vice president Oscar Barrientos that the plan was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility thrust. He added that a growing number of Filipino farmers were shifting from chemical-based to organic pesticides, or a combination of the two.

“This trend should be encouraged,” he added. They have been coordinating with National Tobacco Administration, Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority of the Department of Agriculture and University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna in this initiative made by the company.

As our Filipino farmers did 11.55 million of the country’s 38.6-million-member labor force and contribute 20 percent of its gross domestic product. Insects and other pests have adversely affected farmers’ production of main agricultural crops, including rice, corn, coconuts, sugarcane, bananas, pineapples, coffee, mangoes and abaca. Also affected are secondary crops like peanuts, cassava, sweet potatoes, garlic, onions, cabbages, eggplants, calamansi, rubber, and cotton. Nicotine from tobacco has been used on crops as a natural insecticide that does not have the health and environmental risks of chemical-based pesticides.