NTA Administrator and CEO Robert Victor G. Seares Jr. said that the agency made a difference in its performance this year, thanks to the various support from the stakeholders in implementing programs for the tobacco growers
. “With all the support from the national and local government and our private partners and their trust in our leadership, the agency continues to perform its tasks with the same commitment to serve the tobacco farmers for the past 34 years,” he said during the virtual celebration of the agency’s anniversary on Thursday.
Administrator Seares highlighted his message on the annual accomplishments of the agency despite the various challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Implementation of policies and procedures to keep NTA employees safe and healthy, in strict compliance to safety and health measures, as required by the Inter-Agency Task Force.
• Facilitated the roll-out of vaccine for the vaccination (1st to 2nd dose) of all Central Office staff, in coordination with the National Government and the city government of Quezon City.
• Formulation of the Sustainable Tobacco Enhancement Program (STEP), the agency’s five-year industry development program, as the agency aims to undertake changes and improvement in its services, and raise above standards in helping local tobacco growers.
• Release of P187 million for the production/financial assistance, with a 40% subsidy on fertilizers/pesticides, to 5,946 tobacco farmers tilling an aggregate area of 4,108 hectares.
• Turnover of the first-ever unit of the solar-aided curing barn (SACB) to a farmer-leader in Ilocos Norte.
• Increase of beneficiaries and coverage area of the Beef Cattle Production Assistance Project, from 250 last year to 500 beneficiaries with more areas covered in tobacco-growing provinces.
• Increase in production assistance of the Rice Production Program from P49 million last year to P69 million this year, to benefit 7,100 rice-corn farmers in major tobacco areas.
• Establishment of Block Farms in the coverage area of the Branch Offices, or a total of eight model block farms with an aggregate area of 438.35 hectares and an average of 54.8 hectares per Branch area, involving 636 farmer-cooperators.
• Updating of farmers’ database, with digitized registration of about 40,400 (target) tobacco farmers through the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA).
• Distribution of P53 million of farm machineries to farmers’ cooperatives under the block farm.
• Relaunching of the Gulayan and Manukan sa Barangay and Vegetable Seedlings Projects that was initiated last year as a continuous intervention to enhance food productivity, supply availability, and price stability amid COVID-19.
• Close coordination with the local government units, for the unhampered delivery of tobacco, and movement of NTA staff and trading personnel in their respective areas.
• Intensified the implementation of the policy on “ease of doing business” in all NTA transactions with the release of our Citizens Charter handbook and our current policy of online transaction in all our regulatory processes; and the integration of these processes into a fully online and interoperable platform with other trade regulatory government agencies via the TradeNet.
• Strengthening of the communication support program with the enhancement of the NTA official website and social media page to give relevant updates and serve as a venue for our stakeholders to air feedbacks, issues and concerns.
Administrator Seares also thanked the NTA employees for maintaining the same standard or quality of service to the stakeholders. He cited the recent success of the agency in the surveillance audit for its ISO recertification.
[Photo credit: Arman Anga-angan/OAD]