By CESAR JOLITO III
Industry leaders and labor advocates point to the importation of sugar as the main culprit behind the price collapse.
“This is already a recurring problem with sugar importation always being the culprit,” Wennie Sancho, secretary-general of the General Alliance of Workers Association (GAWA), said in a statement.
Sancho said local prices “would not fall this low if there were no imported supplies flooding the market,” accusing certain sectors of “playing the sugar industry to the expense of laborers.”
“Overall, the sugar industry’s challenges in Negros are complex and multifaceted,” Sancho emphasized.
He said they need a comprehensive government response that protects workers and small producers while ensuring the sustainability of the industry.
The GAWA secretary-general also warned that the decrease in sugar prices, while seemingly beneficial to consumers, poses “severe and far-reaching consequences” for workers, farmers and producers in Negros.
“The impact will be immediate — reduced labor days, unpaid debts and hungry families,” Sancho warned.
He cited multiple negative impacts from the price crash:
* Reduced income for sugar workers — Producers may resort to cost-cutting measures such as lowering wages or reducing the workforce to sustain operations. This could lead to slave-like wages or job losses for sugar workers.
* Financial strain on small farmers — With fertilizer prices having risen by nearly 200 percent, small sugar farmers may struggle to maintain operations, forcing some to sell their land or abandon sugar farming entirely.
* Pest infestation and crop damage — The ongoing red-striped soft scale insect infestation in Negros Occidental has damaged nearly 3,000 hectares of sugarcane fields, reducing sugar content by up to 50 percent and threatening further losses.
* Threats to livelihoods — The instability of the sugar industry could endanger the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers and smallholders, potentially leading to food insecurity and rural poverty.
* Impact on local industry — Cheaper imported sugar undermines local producers, particularly small and organic farmers, risking a decline in domestic sugar production.
* Risk of land conversion — Struggling planters might resort to converting sugarcane lands into subdivisions or other real estate projects, displacing workers and diminishing agricultural productivity.
Meanwhile, the National Federation of Sugar Planters (NFSP) earlier warned that Sugar Order No. 8, which authorized additional importation for the 2024-2025 crop year, could depress prices early in the milling season.
NFSP President Enrique Rojas said they initially agreed with the SRA on an import volume of 150,000 metric tons, but “more than such volume has already entered the country as of mid-September.”
“Additional importation is suicidal to the industry,” Rojas stressed./CJ, WDJ