• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chief Pablo Luis Azcona said on Tuesday (March 12) that the industry is losing areas planted to sugarcane annually due to land conversion.
Noting that land is getting expensive, those who may sell their land may expect one-time payment equivalent to already 50 years of their profit, Azcona said in a press briefing in Bacolod City.
“With that, who will refuse to sell?” he asked.
He added that the constant battle is with the growth of cities, wherein as the cities grow, they eat up the farmlands, noting also that productive land, which is flat, irrigated and well-established as farms, are being sold and slowly becoming real estate.
With this development, Azcona said that the national government is pushing to re-establish and expand the government research program especially for high-yielding varieties.
The Philippines is at a disadvantage compared to other countries in terms of production per hectare due to varieties being used, he added.
Azcona reported that the SRA has funded 125 hectares of nursery farms at P85,000 per hectare for growing in a span of six months.
Meanwhile, sugar farmers in Negros Occidental reported a drop of production of 10 percent because of the effects of drought caused by El Niño phenomenon.
Azcona said that the SRA has earmarked P66 million to assist sugarcane farmers in mitigating its effects.
The SRA head also reported that they have released irrigation equipment for 100 hectares of sugar plantations and will release 40 more small-sized irrigation units for small farmers on March 19.
Aside from irrigation equipment, also being distributed are shallow tube wells and automated weather stations with moisture sensors, which can monitor moisture within three kilometers of the weather station. | GB
