Sugar millers join call to lessen agri imports

The local sugar industry has joined the call of other agriculture groups to stop the importation of various farm commodities.

Sugar groups said they are also victims of unabated importation of sugar and other sweeteners over the past years.

Among the groups include the Asociacion de Agricultores de la Carlota y Pontevedra

Inc., Kabankalan-Ilog Planters Association, Sugarcane Growers Association of Bukidnon Inc., and Sugarcane Farmers of Bukidnon Multipurpose Cooperative.

The poultry and livestock groups have been calling on the Department of Agriculture to temporarily stop importation as the supply glut remains unresolved.

“At present, the sugar industry is fortunate that even with the low demand for our commodity brought about by the pandemic, the perceived shortfall in the country’s annual consumption of sugar may even-out because of a slight increase in total production in the last crop year, as compared to previous years,” the groups said.

“However, when business is back-to-normal, we may again be subjected to unabated importation that has caused misery to the millions of industry stakeholders,” they said.

The groups said the government should address first the disconnect of continued importation vis-à-vis the President’s call to strengthen food security.

“We feel the urgency to call on the DA to strengthen local agriculture industries through well-meaning programs with the end view of improving productivity and self-sustainability,” they said.

The pandemic has highlighted the need for countries to be self-sustainable and reinforce their agriculture industries to strengthen their food security programs.

While neighboring countries Vietnam and Thailand are doubling their efforts to avoid dependency on importation of basic goods, particularly food, the Philippines continues to heavily rely on importation of certain commodities.

“We need to put a stop in looking at importation as the only answer when demand for supply is tight. We join the call for the DA to be more circumspect in their intervention measures, whether it’s oversupply or tightness in supply,” the groups said.

“There is no better time than now to re-assess government programs and streamline regulatory requirements to hasten modernization of our various agriculture industries,” they said.