February 1, 2016
Mary Grace Padin (Business Mirror) | http://goo.gl/TBmFFI
The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said it is allocating P89.59 million for the establishment of sugarcane high-yielding variety (HYV) nurseries in sugarcane mill districts in the country.
The SRA said the initiative is a priority project of the agency aimed at increasing the yield of recipient farms and the adoption of sugarcane HYV in the country.
Beneficiaries will be given planting materials and new HYV canepoints by the agency. The SRA hopes to boost sugarcane tonnage per hectare by at lesat 2 tons cane per
hectare (TC/ha).
The project also seeks to improve the dispersal and adoption of sugarcane HYV in mill districts by 20 percent by the year 2020.
The SRA is urging mill district development councils, sugarcane planters associations and state universities and colleges to submit a proposal for the establishment of nurseries in their area.
The attached agency of the Department of Agriculture said proposed nursery sites should be “strategically located” in the mill district, which should be accessible to target beneficiaries.
The agency added that proponents should secure a lease contract agreement of the nursery, if the area is not owned by the proponent. The nursery sites and farms of target beneficiaries must also be geotagged by the SRA for validation purposes.
Proponents are required to provide the SRA with the basic information of the proposed nursery farm site, such as soil analysis and sugarcane yields for the past five crop years.
According to the SRA, it will prioritize less productive sugarcane farms of mill districts with farm productivity of less than 60 TC/hectare, and other sugarcane farms for canepoints production.
Each mill district will be provided with a minimum of 10 hectares of sugarcane HYV nurseries.
The maximum fund allocated per hectare of the HYV nursery is P89,595.
SRA Administrator Ma. Regina Bautista-Martin earlier said the agency will start the full implementation of the Sugarcane Industry Development Act, or Republic Act (RA) 10659,
this year.
RA 10659 aims to address challenges in the industry, such as the establishment of the Asean Free Trade Area, dwindling farm areas, and severe weather conditions brought about by the El Niño.
The agency said it will focus on research and development, strengthening mill districts and “intensifying” the Block Farm program to increase sugar production and improve farm efficiency.
According to the SRA, the country’s output for the current crop year may only reach 2.22 million metric tons (MMT), nearly 4 percent lower than the previous crop year’s output of 2.31 MMT.
The SRA attributed the possible drop in output to El Niño and the contraction in sugarcane-production areas.