The extraordinary economic bonus guaranteed by Philip Morris Italia to growers who adhere to the supply chain agreement with Coldiretti for 2022 to cope with the surge in energy costs is about to start. The disbursement of the bonus will start within the month of March and will gradually involve the agricultural enterprises of Veneto, Umbria and Campania.
The agreement – the first made in Italy for the benefit of the agricultural production chain – is part of the long-term partnership signed by Philip Morris Italy with the Ministry of Agricultural Policies and with Coldiretti for the purchase of leaf tobacco and for the sustainability of Italian agricultural supply chain, for which, at the same time, the details for the imminent renewal are being defined: this is the main supply chain agreement in the tobacco sector in Italy, the only one currently in place to have a long time horizon breath, with multi-year investments of around 100 million euros each year made possible above all thanks to the impetus provided to the sector by innovative smokeless tobacco products, with which Philip Morris Italia has declared its intention to replace conventional cigarettes as soon as possible.
The extraordinary economic bonus put in place makes it possible to face the strong increases in energy costs (LPG, methane, electricity, diesel) and technical means. The measure also lays the foundations for a path that aims to make the agricultural tobacco supply chain in Italy more and more efficient and sustainable, also in anticipation of the medium-term challenges in relation to the implementation of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. (Pac) in 2023.
“We remain focused on our goal of building a smoke-free future by eliminating cigarettes with innovative smokeless tobacco products – he has declared Marco Hannappelpresident and CEO of Philip Morris Italia, who added – thanks to a path started several years ago, today Italian farmers are the protagonists of this transformation together with Philip Morris Italia and our commitment goes in the direction of maintaining the competitiveness of the our integrated supply chain “.
“The energy crisis aggravated by the war in Ukraine can only be faced with the co-responsibility of the entire supply chain and the initiative taken as part of the agreement signed in the tobacco sector represents an important signal for the entire agri-food system – said the President of Coldiretti Ettore Prandini underlining – the importance of interventions capable of coping with increases in unsustainable costs for agricultural businesses that risk compromising crops with an impact on the economy, environment and work ”.
The collaboration agreements signed by Philip Morris Italy with the Ministry of Agriculture and Coldiretti starting from the early 2000s have generated agricultural investments of over two billion euros in total for the benefit of the Italian tobacco industry, the most important in Europe with about 50,000 employees. This commitment made it possible to maintain stable the purchase volumes of raw tobacco guaranteed by Philip Morris Italia despite a large decline recorded by the sector as a whole (-42.2% between 2011 and 2021).
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