Sugar price surge expected soon

With 100,000 hectares of sugarcane fields in the country’s sugar capital – Bacolod, Negros Occidental –  having been affected by the ongoing drought, supply will be further tight and would necessitate more imports.

The United Sugar Producers Federations of the Philippines (UNIFED) said rising temperatures and lack of rain have devastated vast tracts of sugarcane fields in the Negros provinces, Rappler reported.

Manuel Lamata, UNIFED president, said 100,000 hectares of sugarcane fields have dried up in Negros alone due to the dry weather conditions caused by the El Niño phenomenon.

Edna Sobrecaray, Southern Negros coordinator of Task Force Mapalad (TFM), called on the government on March 12, to act swiftly because sugarcane fields in Negros have started to dry up.

TFM is one of the largest groups of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) in the country, claiming to have more than 4,000 ARB-member beneficiaries in Southern Negros alone.

The group’s national coordinator, lawyer Armando Jarilla, highlighted that farmers were rapidly losing money and barely had enough to pay for their loans due to the El Niño weather conditions.

“I hope that the government will hear our collective plea amid the dry spell,” said Sobrecaray.

Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chief Pablo Azcona, announced that the agency had already allocated P66 million for mitigating measures for the sugar industry of Negros.

Maria Lourdes Almodiente, SRA  chief agriculturist declined to comment on Lamata’s claim regarding the damage caused by the El Niño to Negros’ sugar industry, Rappler added.

“We are still in the process of assessing the damage, and hopefully, we can release our consolidated report soon,” Almodiente said.

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson reiterated his call for the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Region VI to commence cloud-seeding operations to mitigate the adverse impact of the drought in southern Negros.

Lacson said the prolonged dry spell in Region VI had continued to wreak havoc, damaging 1,646 hectares of rice and corn plantations in 11 towns and cities in the southern part of the province.

As of latest count, he said, at least 1,963 farmers were adversely affected, with their collective crop losses estimated at P77.7 million. ROSE DELA CRUZ

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