The Negros Occidental provincial government will hold an agricultural summit on January 31.

Provincial agriculturist, Atty. Japhet Masculino, said the summit aims to collate the concerns of different stakeholders.

We want to ask them what other agricultural products can Negros offer aside from sugar, Masculino said.

The summit comes on the heels of concerns raised by sugar industry leaders over news importation of sugar will be “liberalized,” which General Alliance of Workers Association (GAWA) speculates will cost about 300,000 sugar and mill workers their jobs.

People dependent on sugar alone will be forced to sell or abandon their lands in Negros Occidental if the sugar import liberalization pushes through, affirmed GAWA Secretary General Wennie Sancho./DGB, WDJ