Mighty Corp provides farmers sure market

MightyCorporation or Mighty Corp, one of the country’s local producers of low-priced cigarettes, has provided farmers in Pangasinan and the Ilocos provinces a sure market of tobacco products this year.

National Federation of Tobacco Growers and Cooperatives (NFTGC) President Mario Cabasal expressed g relief after learning that Mighty Corp has made commitments to initially buy at least 10 million kilograms of tobacco leaves at an average price of P70 per kilo and buy all the excess tobacco leaves that farmers could not sell to other buyers.

Cabasal pointed out, “We limited to minimum areas fields planted to tobacco last year in anticipation of depressed demand due to the scheduled implementation of the sin tax. Good thing, some farmers were able to sell part of their low-grade harvests to Mighty Corp last year.

He added, “Now that we are assured of an alternative market, besides other tobacco companies, our members will again be inspired to devote larger areas to the cultivation of Ilocandia’s most important cash crop.”

It was reported that many farmers in the Ilocos Region shifted to planting yellow corn, the only other cash crop that thrives in dry land where rainfall is scarce during the summer months fearing that tobacco prices and demand for the yellow leaf would dive as a result of the new excise tax law on cigarettes.

Cabasal also pointed out, “With Mighty Corp’s assurance that the company will buy all the unsold tobacco harvested by farmers, we can also be sure that unlike in the past, prices will stay high even after the holiday season. Price cut downs on harvests after the Holy Week was an old practice of middlemen from Ilocos Norte to Pangasinan.”

Mighty Corp provides production boost to farmers

Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp, the only wholly Filipino-owned cigarette company announced it would double its purchase of tobacco from five million to 10 million kilos this year, which is expected to boost the income of farmers in the country.

National Federation of Tobacco Farmers Association and Cooperatives (NAFTAC) President Mario Cabasal said that the good news of Mighty Corporation is seen to break the farmers’ dependence on giant tobacco companies, who enter into contract with farmers to make them plant high nicotine varieties.

Bulacan-based Mighty Corp, a company owned by the Wongchuking family, produces low-priced brand of cigarettes, which are popular among the masses. The company recently provided 83 units of water pumps and 16 hand tractors to local farmers.

Early this year, the company signed partnership agreements with farmers at a hotel in La Union to seal its commitments of assistance to farmers. The deal also includes providing 100 college scholarship for children of tobacco farmers in La Union.

Mighty Executive Vice President Oscar Barrientos said the company will compete with the giant tobacco companies in the purchase of tobacco, which they needed as cigarette filler. This of course will be a good boost to local farmers production output.

Meanwhile, National Tobacco Administration Administrator Edgardo Zaragosa, said that the entry of Mighty Corp in the market is good because competition in tobacco trading will help farmers, especially if the price is right.

Mighty Corp assures farmers of increased leaf purchases

Bulacan-based cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp has given farmers in the Ilocos Region and Cagayan Valley a bright hope of a brisk sale of tobacco leaves this year following a bumper crop.

Mighty Corp Executive Vice President and Spokesman Oscar P. Barrientos assured the local farmers of the good news amid reports that the company’s share of the domestic market has dramatically risen from five percent in 2012 to 20 percent last year.

Barrientos pointed out, “We have earned our fair share of the market by making quality but affordable cigarettes that were smartly packaged, creatively and ingenuously sold to the mass market. That is the secret of our success in breaking the cigarette monopoly in this country and we are mighty proud of our modest success coming from a home-grown and Filipino-owned cigarette company.”

He also added that with a bigger share of Mighty Corp in the market today, the company is giving the tobacco farmers a fair shake of our success by offering competitive prices to their crops to ensure a good future for them and their families.

Barrientos stressed that Mighty Corp, the only wholly Filipino-owned tobacco company, has consistently championed the cause of the Filipino tobacco farmers by buying a larger share of the low-grade tobacco leaves at a good prices through the years.

It was reported that this year alone, Mighty Corp has bought even the low-priced tobacco leaves. Had the company not done that, it would have created a great economic dislocation for tobacco farmers in the country.

Quake ruins in Bohol, Cebu prompt firm to build more churches

After the rain, there is a rainbow.

This is what Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp in mind as it commit to continue to build more churches in the country after a strong earthquake destroyed historical churches in Bohol and Cebu last year. 

Mighty Corp, the only wholly-Filipino tobacco company in the country, conducts such advocacy through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKF). 

Mighty Corp Executive Vice President and Spokesperson Oscar P. Barrientos said pointed out that the destruction of churches during the quake in Bohol and Cebu has prompted them to continue with its mission to strengthen the Filipino faith.

Barrientos explained, “The recent calamities that hit the country last year only strengthened the Filipino faith. Mighty Corp will continue to build churches that Filipinos go to in their times of great trials.”

Last year, the WCKF helped renovate the Diocesan Shrine of Immaculate Conception in Naic, Cavite, and rebuild the Basilica Minore of Our Lady of Piat in Cagayan. Aside from this, the company also supports poor but deserving students through scholarship programs provided to beneficiaries of local tobacco farmers.

Mighty Corp’s initiatives has prompted Church leaders to express support for the company in its struggle to clear its name amid charges of technical smuggling and tax evasion. One of those who are vocal to support the Bulacan-based cigarette manufacturer is Caceres Archbishop Rolando Tirona who said that he believes that Mighty Corp adheres strictly to the company’s commitment to its corporate social responsibility.

NTA welcomes Mighty program for local farmers

Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp, the only wholly Filipino-owned cigarette manufacturer in the country was commended by the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) for the assistance it provides to local farmers.

NTA Chief Edgardo Zaragoza pointed out, “We welcome the assistance provided Mighty Corp. The more players dealing directly with the farmers, the better and merrier. This is a big boost to the tobacco industry.”

He added that the company’s social outreach programs would increase the assistance provided to farmers and their families and hope that this would encourage other cigarette industry players to do the same.

It was reported that Mighty Corp, the Bulacan-based tobacco company owned by the Wongchuking family, has donated 90 diesel-fed water pumps and 16 power tillers to farmers in the provinces of Abra, Ilocs Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Isabela and Cagyan, the country’s top producers of yellow leaf, the variety used for cigarettes. 

Aside from this, Mighty Corp has earlier announced it would buy 10 million kilograms of tobacco leaves, one fifth of the industry’s total production. It has also provided 100 scholarships to high school graduates who are children of local tobacco farmers. 

Zaragoza mentioned that the NTA is working on the implementing rules for the excise taxes on cigarettes to ensure that the taxes will directly benefit tobacco farmers. He added that in 2003, excise tax collection from tobacco increased by almost P35 billion. From P32 billion in 2012, it became P67 billion in 2013.

Filipino firm pushes organic agri pesticide

Image credit: drjill-live.com

Bulacan-based cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corporation or Mighty Corp firmly believes that tobacco, can also be used as an organic pesticide against insects and is an even more effective and much safer pesticide than chemical-based ones.

In connection to this, Mighty Corp has announced plans to develop and promote the alternative use for tobacco, to help reduce Filipino farmers’ dependence on chemical-based pesticides which destroy soil productivity and harm the environment.

Mighty Corp Executive Vice President and Spokesman Oscar Barrientos said, “The move is part of our company’s corporate social responsibility thrust. A small but growing number of Filipino farmers were shifting from chemical-based to organic pesticides, or a combination of the two. This trend should be encouraged.”

Barrientos also added that his company’s initiative will increase tobacco farmers’ income, and protect the environment through an organic pesticide that is effective in battling insects like as aphids, leaf rollers and stem borers.

Mighty Corp, the only wholly Filipino-owned cigarette company, is coordinating with key agencies like the National Tobacco Administration (NTA), Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna (UPLB) in pushing for this program.

Based on reports, Filipino farmers make up 11.55 million of the country’s 38.6-million-member labor force and contribute 20 percent of its gross domestic product.  The production of main agricultural crops, including rice, corn, coconuts, sugarcane, bananas, pineapples, coffee, mangoes and abaca are imperiled by insects and other pests nothing will done to stop them from spreading.

Foundation offers scholarships to tobacco farmers’ children

MightyCorporation  or Mighty Corp announced that through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKF), they will be providing educational assistance, consisting of 100 colleege scholarship grants, to poor but deserving students who are children of tobacco farmers in Northern Luzon.

Mighty Corp President Edilberto Adan pointed out, “Formal schooling is often too expensive and priced well beyond the reach of the poor, including tobacco farmers.  This is our way of thanking the farmers for helping to make our company what it is today.”

Adan added that the new scholarship program is one of three components of a P10-million joint CSR project of Mighty Corp and the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers and Cooperatives (NAFTAC) that aims to benefit 65,000 farmers in Pangasinan, La Union, Abra, Cagayan, Isabela, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.

The formal signing rites for the project  was held in a hotel in La Union and is to expected help 65,000 tobacco farmers in the Philippines. 200 farmer leaders who are members of the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers and Cooperatives (NFTFC)

NAFTAC National President Mario Cabasal pointed out, “We are happy that Mighty Corporation, through its Wong Chu King Foundation, has stood firm on its commitment to help 65,000 tobacco farmers in the Philippines.”

The scholarship program is in support of the educational project for poor but deserving graduate meeting high school students and dependents of tobacco farmers. Other components of the project include agricultural production assistance, consisting of 16 hand tractors worth P2.5 million and 90 irrigation pumps worth P1.1 million; and institutional support for the annual search for outstanding tobacco farmers and cooperatives by the National Tobacco Administration (NTA).