September 1, 2015
Manila Bulletin (Madelaine B. Miraflor) | http://goo.gl/qHFjCv
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is pursuing moves to merge sugarcane farms to promote block farming among Filipino farmers, a project that will get more than P2-billion budget from various government agencies.
DA Secretary Proceso Alcala, together with Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) administrator Maria Regina Bautista-Martin, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a convergence program focusing on the local sugarcane development program.
Alcala said block farming is one of the government’s effective strategies in improving the lives of sugarcane farmers.
By combining small sugarcane farms into one big farm, farmers will produce higher income because the amount of manpower needed to maintain these small farms is greatly lessened when combined together. Likewise, the savings from getting less people to maintain the farm plus the higher output due to larger farms results into a higher income for all the farmers compared to splitting them into smaller farms.
The government’s block farming program started with 19 block farms and has now expanded to 99 block farms with a minimum land area of 30 hectares.
To finance this project, DAR initially provided P424.6 thousand, while DA has provided P1.7 billion, funds of which will be sourced under the General Appropriations Act of 2015. SRA shall also initially provide P3.1 million.
“Sugar is a one year crop. It takes time before farmers enjoy their yield and that is why, part of the Sugarcane Development Program is to augment its programs to ensure that farmers earn whole year round like planting other crops” Martin said.
Also, sugarcane can produce other products aside from sugar. The Ethanol that is mixed with fuel is sourced from sugarcane in fact, 4 mills are already self sufficient in energy and they are even selling power to the national grid.
Biodegradable plastic is another promising product from sugarcane and is currently eyed by these government agencies to produce as well.
In April, President Benigno Aquino III forged the Sugarcane Industry Development Act of 2015, a law that supervises the maximization the potential of the country’s sugarcane resources.
The Sugarcane Industry Development Act is targeted to increase the competitiveness of the sugarcane industry, improving the incomes of farmers and farm workers through improved productivity; product diversification; job generation and increased efficiency of sugar mills.