Mighty Corp pushes the use of organic agri pesticide

Mighty Corp, a Bulacan-based tobacco manufacturer in the country pushed through their plans to develop and promote the alternative use for tobacco in which help reduce Filipino farmers’ reliance on chemical-based pesticides.  It will also help to increase tobacco farmers’ income, and protect the environment.

According to Mighty executive vice president and spokesperson, Oscar Barrientos said that the said move 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 explained.

Mighty has been coordinating with National Tobacco Administration, Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna (UPLB) in this effort to give the pond owners alternative.

Did you know that a lot of Filipino farmers make up 11.55 million of the country’s 38.6-million-member labor force? They contributed at least 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.