The Planters’ Association of Southern Negros (PASON) is appealing to the Department of Agriculture and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to suspend the allocation of all “A” US quota sugar for crop year 2021-2022 since the country’s projected production is just enough for domestic consumption.
SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica said on Friday, August 27, that hopefully, they can issue a new sugar allocation order by next week.
PASON president Jesus Adrian Campos Jr., in a letter to Agriculture Secretary William Dar, said that in crop year 2020-2021 sugar production did not meet the targeted production and was slightly below that of the previous CY, while domestic consumption increased.
“Our local production has reached the point that it cannot anymore meet the domestic demand and the US quota,” he said.
If ‘A” sugar is given an allocation , sugar farmers will be at a disadvantage since it is priced lower that “B” or domestic sugar, Campos said.
Last crop year the average price of “A” sugar at the BISCOM mill district was P270 per lkg lower than “B” sugar, causing farmers to lose hundreds of millions of pesos, he said.
PASON is calling on SRA to allocate all sugar produced in CY 2021 -2022 as “B” sugar.
PASON has more than 5,000 members, the bulk of whom are very small farmers owning less that 5 hectares, Campos said, adding that he hopes Dar favorably acts o their request.*