PALO, LEYTE—PMFTC Inc., an affiliate of Philip Morris International, and the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Inc. kicked off the Climate Change and Agriculture Summit series in Palo, Leyte on Tuesday.
The summit, which will be held in key regions in the coming months will familiarize Filipino farmers, local government units, and other stakeholders with technology and practices to cope with climate change in the agricultural sector.
The province of Leyte was chosen as the launching pad for the summit series as it was ground zero of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” in 2013. Another summit is being planned for Samar towards the end of the year. Both provinces were hardest hit by the Category 5 twister, the strongest storm ever recorded at landfall, and the deadliest.
PMFTC president Roman Militsyn said his company aims to improve the lives of farmers and help improve the state of the country’s agriculture.
“Through this summit, we will try to come up with a Plan of Action and recommendations that would contribute to a strong climate-resilient agriculture industry,” Militsyn said.
He remarked that PMFTC has evolved over the past few years from being solely a cigarette manufacturer into an agricultural company, with thousands of directly and indirectly contracted farmers.
“With the assumption into power by the Duterte administration, the agriculture sector is given a new lease in life and we are excited of the prospects ahead for all of us in this sector,” Militsyn said.
“I am personally looking forward to the various projects both the government and the private sectors have announced that they will undertake. We, in PMFTC, are willing to do our part,” he added.
Participants in the workshop included town and city mayors, LGU representatives, farmer leaders, and representatives from the provincial and municipal agriculture offices.