SRA forms teams to check sugar sample results released by mills

Posted by watchmen
November 15, 2024
Posted in TOP STORIES

The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has formed inspection teams to check the sample results released by sugar mills after receiving complaints from farmers of “very low to zero Lkg sugar per ton cane (Lkg/TC)” since they began milling in October.

In a statement on Wednesday, November 13, the SRA said Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona released a memorandum on November 4, ordering the creation of inspection teams in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

They were assigned to conduct “random inspections focusing on analyzing the samples’ sucrose content, Brix, and apparent purity.”

Brix is a unit of measurement that indicates the amount of dissolved sugar in a liquid.

One degree Brix is equal to one gram of sucrose in 100 grams of solution; a higher Brix value indicates a sweeter liquid solution.

The United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed), the largest group of independent sugar planters in the country, led by its president Manuel Lamata, urged the SRA to intensify the inspection of sugar mills to protect farmers from being shortchanged of their produce.

In a separate statement, Lamata “questioned the integrity of sugar mills” after what he considers as “very doubtful” results of their members’ produce released by the sugar mills.

“We have had truckloads of canes which reportedly have zero Lkg/TC as extracted by the mills, which makes us suspect that something strange is going on,” he added.

Lkg is a unit of measurement that is equivalent to 50 kilograms.

Previously, the average figure was 1.7 Lkg/TC at 50 tons per hectare, but it has gone down to 1.44 Lkg/TC since the start of milling.

“I’m hoping that mills are not taking advantage of the farmers. I’m asking the Department of Agriculture and the SRA to ensure that the planters are protected from this situation,” Lamata said.

He said that before, sugar planters groups were allowed to have their own chemists in the sugar mills to check the veracity of the extractions, but it was discontinued.

Although Lamata acknowledged that the long drought will have an effect on the Lkg/TC, he said, “the results so far have been suspect.”

“We urge the SRA to ensure that mill equipment is calibrated so as not to shortchange our sugar farmers,” he added. (PNA)

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