Foundation boosts Negros sugar industry

BACOLOD CITY–The Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines has partnered with Sugar Regulatory Administration, the Philippine Sugar Research Institute (Philsurin), and SIMAG Foundation, to create projects to help the sugar farmers in Negros Occidental.

Coca-Cola, together with the executives of three organizations, signed memoranda of understanding here Thursday for three projects to boost sugarcane production.

The foundation signed an agreement SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica, for providing water for the irrigation requirements of five block farms in Negros Occidental.

Block farming is a strategy adopted by SRA for agrarian reform beneficiaries to make sugarcane farming more efficient and less costly for small farmers. The farmers are organized and their lands are aggregated into an integrated farming block that is more productive and inputefficient, Coca-Cola’s press release said.

Having a sufficient water supply will also allow the farmers to plant other crops during the off-milling season, it added.

Coca-Cola also signed an agreement with SIMAG, represented by its president, Maria Regina Martin, to build its capacity to offer Technical Education and Skills Development Authority-accredited courses in agricultural crop production to the farmers and their children.

The project with SIMAG costs P2.5 million and includes training tools, equipment, and materials, and a mobile training laboratory.

Philsurin President Timothy Bennett also signed an agreement with Coca-Cola to support the research and development of high-yielding sugarcane varieties and their distribution to the small farmers.

The R2.7-million project will include distribution of cane points to farmers through three primary seed farms to be established in Philsurin -member mill areas to help improve the productivity of the block farms.

Serafica said these projects will bring a lot of changes to the farmers since an irrigation system can boost cane production up to 70 percent, from the usual 50 percent.

“The company, through the CocaCola Foundation Philippines, is looking at helping small sugar farmers improve the productivity of their farms and create better opportunities for them and their families,” Jonah de Lumen-Pernia, Coca-Cola Philippines Public Affairs and Communications director, said.

The region is one of the key interest areas for the beverage brand as Negros since the main producer of Philippine sugar – a key ingredient in most of the company’s beverages, she said, adding that the small farmers are the most vulnerable stakeholders in the local sugar industry and they are in need of support.

“We strive to respond to the needs of the communities where we are by providing a sustainable program that will help enable and empower them to grow,” Cecile Alcantara, Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines president, said.