The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) recently received 80 tractors and other farm equipment from the Japanese government in support of the sugarcane industry farm mechanization program funded under the Japan Non-Project Grant Aid amounting to P314 million.
SRA Administrator Paul Azcona, on Tuesday, September 12, thanked the Japanese government for “this much needed gift to our sugar farmers to increase productivity and efficiency.”
Azcona said 51 tractors will be deployed to sugarcane areas in the Visayas with Negros Occidental getting the bulk at 24 units, Negros Oriental – 11, Iloilo – 6, Leyte – 4, while Cebu and Capiz will get three each.
The Luzon sugar areas will receive 15 tractors and Mindanao will get 14.
Also included in the donation are 48 sugarcane planters, 48 lateral flair mowers and five power harrows.
Under the grant agreement which was entered into by the Department of Finance and the SRA with the Japanese government in 2021, the sugar regulatory agency will be the owner of the farm machineries and implements and will submit an impact assessment report to the DOF and the Japan government three years after its implementation, Azcona said.
To ensure the sustainability of the program, the farm machineries and implements will be consigned to selected farmers groups for a fee that is proportional to the cost of their maintenance and upkeep, he said.
This blessing is “very much timely as we just started the new milling season and we in the industry are grateful to both the Japanese government and our own for this initiative that will go a long way in helping our sugar farmers become more efficient and productive,” Azcona said.*