BACOLOD City – The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has asked the members of the House of Representatives of more help for the farmers and millers.
Luis Azcona, SRA administrator, said, the P2-billion allocation under the Sugarcane Industry Development Act (SIDA) is a bit limited on the coverage since sugar industry is a big one.
Azcona was among the attendees of the public hearing on the proposed amendments to Republic Act (RA) No. 10659, or the Sugarcane Industry Development Act of 2015, in Talisay City, Negros Occidental yesterday, August 8.
The public hearing was conducted by the House committee on agriculture and food chaired by Quezon 1st District’s Rep. Mark Enverga. Also present were Negros Occidental 3rd District’s Rep. Francisco “Kiko” Benitez.
Azcona said they are asking to increase the SIDA budget from P2 billion to P5 billion annually.
The SRA administrator said that one of the biggest problems they have now is on block farms.
Block farm is one of the major features under the SRA-SIDA program which provides technical and financial support to small sugarcane farmers.
“We can only organize a certain number of block farms because the budget per block farm is almost P5 million, that includes tractors, working capital and fertilizers,” he added.
He added: “We can only have 20 to 40 block farms depending on the approval. This is our major request – more help for our farmers and millers.”
Rep. Enverga, for his part, said it will be difficult to increase the budget given their issue with the absorptive capacity.
But, he added: I’m very much hopeful that if we will be able to resolve things here in this public hearing, as well as our proposed amendment in the SIDA, I think it will help justify to the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) the need for us to even improve and increase the allocation in the appropriation for SIDA.”
He further said that the main goal of the public hearing is to push for a higher allocation for SIDA, saying, “Of course we would want to make sure that this will be properly implemented by 2026.”
Also present during the public hearing were Bacolod City Lone District’s Rep. Greg Gasataya, Negros Occidental’s Reps. Mercedez Alvarez (6th District) and Dino Yulo (5th District), Abang Lingkod Party-list’s Rep. Stephen Paduano, Negros Oriental 2nd District’s Rep. Manuel Sagarbarria, former Negros Occidental governor Lito Coscolluela, sugar producer groups, government agencies, and Land Bank of the Philippines, among others./PN
