By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has welcomed a proposal to increase the agency’s budget for 2023.

SRA acting administrator David Thaddeus Alba said the country’s sugar industry is in dire need of programs to be implemented so they can increase productivity.

Alba said with the national government’s thrust on food security, the budget increase can be used for research and development programs and support services for small farmers, especially for block farms.

“We welcome also the P19.5 billion allocated for fertilizer support especially that prices of fertilizers have tripled in the last three years. We hope that sugar farmers and all other agriculture industry will benefit from this earmarked program,” he said.

Alba also added that they are hoping the P2 billion allocation under the  Sugar Industry Development Act will be given by next year as this has been cut down to a fourth for this year.

“For the sugar industry to be sustainable and attain self-sufficiency for the country, we need to double-time in our efforts and any budget increase will help ensure we can meet this if we get the much-needed help for the industry,” he pointed out./DGB, WDJ