ILOILO – After the national government announced its intent to import sugar, the 14th Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) of this province passed a resolution appealing to the concurrent Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary and President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to stop the move.
During Tuesday’s regular session, 3rd District Provincial Board member Matt Palabrica moved to pass a resolution entitled “A resolution appealing to his Excellency President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., to stop the move to import sugar while the milling season is at its peak”, copy furnished to the Office of the President.
It was supported by Vice Gov. Christine Garin and all board members present.
Palabrica said some sectors also plan to immediately import sugar, despite there being no apparent shortage of sugar in the country currently and that the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) itself has no forecast of a large shortfall in sugar supply after the milling season.
According to Palabrica, local farmers, particularly small and micro farmers, have only recently begun to benefit from the remarkably good sugar prices.
He reasoned that the national government’s planned importation would drastically affect the farmers’ income.
“Sugar farmers, both the big and small shall suffer when traders will again import sugar, especially in the middle of the milling season since traditionally, any importation results in the instant dampening of prices since imported sugar is sourced at very low prices from sugar producing countries,” read part of the resolution.
It added: “Only the trades and some unscrupulous sectors benefit from the importation, and that sugar farmers have not yet fully recovered from their losses of the previous crop season, having been hit by low sugar prices, exceedingly high fertilizer costs, and other inputs that directly affect sugar farming”.
The national government earlier said it plans to import 64,050 metric tons of sugar, which will impact “farmers negatively, and their already suffering economies will further be degraded, resulting in hunger and the lack of their ability to send children to school, as well as reduce their means to buy necessities.”
The 14th SP also appealed to the President to “find ways to help the sugar farmers improve their economic status within or outside sugarcane farming.”
Data obtained by Palabrica showed that 20,000 hectares of sugar plantations in the province are managed by 15,000 farmers.
Most of the farmers till one to 10 hectares of sugarcane farms./PN