Two sugar groups in the Philippines are at loggerheads over a proposal to delay the start of the milling season to mid-September, which is expected to yield more output and profit for farmers, reports Inquirer.net.
The United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines is for the delay, insisting it allows more time for the sugarcane to ripen, a beneficial practice. “It’s always the right practice to delay milling ‘a bit’ to give sugarcanes time to ripen,” said Unifed president Manuel Lamata in a Viber message on Thursday. He added that the delay would ultimately lead to increased production.
Typically, the sugar crop year begins on September 1 and ends on August 31 of the following year, with the start of harvesting and milling coinciding with the end of each crop year.
However, the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP) disagrees with the proposed delay. NFSP president Enrique Rojas pointed out that recent heavy rainfall has already accelerated the growth of sugarcane, and with the current sunny weather, farmers should expedite the harvest rather than delay it. “We should also consider that we experienced much rainfall in the past months, which boosted the growth of our canes. Now we have mostly sunny weather, and we should take advantage of this to expedite, instead of delay, our harvest,” Rojas said in a text message on Thursday evening.
Rojas emphasized that the early closure of the previous milling season has left domestic farmers in a financially difficult position, recovering from what he described as a “long-dead season.” He noted that when the start of the last milling season was delayed, it did not result in higher prices or increased productivity. “Farmers are apprehensive that the same thing will happen if the opening of milling will be delayed this coming crop year,” Rojas said.
