The El Niño drought damage to sugar and molasses in Western Visayas has hit P215,700,114, with Negros Occidental bearing the brunt, Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said on Friday, May 10.
Damage in Negros Occidental was P200,178,856, Capiz – P13,747, 242 and Iloilo – P1,774,015, an initial SRA report dated April 15 stated, with the figures likely to increase.
Damage to sugar was P191,253, 922 and to molasses – P24,446,191, affecting 3,283 WV farmers, 2,392 of whom are from Negros Occidental, the SRA report said.
The report said the drought has affected 5,753 hectares of sugar land in Western Visayas, 4,705 hectares of which are in Negros Occidental.
Azcona said the SRA’s projected sugar production for crop year 2023-2024 was 1.85 million metric tons (MT), but as of April 28 it has hit 1.9 million MT.
However, sugar production in Mindanao has made up for losses in Negros, Azcona said.
Azcona said the SRA’s projected sugar production for crop year 2023-2024 was 1.85 million metric tons (MT), but as of April 28 it has hit 1.9 million MT, he said.
There was an increase of 3,000 hectares of sugarland, which is the biggest contributor to the production increase for crop year 2023-2024, he said.
Azcona said the bulk of the drought damage will be reflected in the crop year 2024-2025 production report.
However, it is difficult to come up with a figure on the expected drop in production for the next crop year now without an assessment, he added.
‘DROP COULD HIT 30%’
The P191,253,922 loss is equivalent to 76,400 bags of sugar at P2,500/bag, or at an average 1.8 lkg/tc, 42,444 tons cane, former SRA administrator Rafael Coscolluela said.
“Negros and Panay produced 751,180 tons of cane as of April 21. Divide 42,444 tons estimated drop in tonnage by 751,180 tons production, and you get 5.65 percent estimated drop in tonnage. I think that’s on the optimistic side,” he said.
Coscolluela said his rough estimate is a 30 percent drop in production for Negros and Panay on the assumption that the drought would last beyond May. “It all depends on how much rain will fall and when,” he said.
He cited unfertilized new crop due to dry conditions, stunted growth, dead cane, unplanted fields, more ratooning, and a possible cutback of standing cane in order to get new planting material (patdan) for replanting when rains come.
Some rains have been falling, so that could improve the situation a bit, Cocolluela said.
Coscolluela said he hopes Azcona is right about the 5.65 percent drop because it will be less painful for everyone.
MITIGATION
Meanwhile, the SRA that has a limited budget has an ongoing El Niño drought mitigation program for small farmers, Azcona said.
The SRA has allocated P66 million for the distribution of irrigation equipment, pumps and shallow tube wells, he said.
The Negros Occidental OIC Provincial Agriculturist Dina Genzola had also placed the damage to rice, corn and fisheries in Negros Occidental at P302,224,913.33 on Wednesday, May 8.*