UPLB gets P7.5-M sugar research fund

MANILA, Philippines - The University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) has received an endowment fund amounting to  P7.5 million from sugar producer Roxas Holdings Inc. (RHI) to finance research and development initiatives in the sugar industry.

“We are optimistic that our partnership with RHI, which has the competence and facilities, will enable us to make a difference in a short time,” UPLB chancellor Rex Victor Cruz said in a statement.

Cruz, along with other UPLB officials, recently signed a memorandum of agreement with RHI led by its chairman Pedro Roxas.

“We are optimistic that this partnership will boost efforts to transform the Philippine sugar industry… into a world-class sector and enable us to survive the scenario that comes with the reduction of tariff on sugar to five percent in 2015,” said Roxas.

Archimedes Amarra, RHI executive vice president for marketing and trading, said research and development continues to be a challenge in the Philippines, causing the country to lag behind its competitors in terms of sugarcane varieties and farm processes.

 “We hope to increase productivity and explore the other potentials of sugarcane with our partnership with UPLB,” added Amarra, who also heads the company’s research and development group.

RHI – a bio-sugar and bio-energy company – is the largest integrated sugar business in the Philippines. It manages the Central Azucarera Don Pedro Inc. in Batangas, and the Central Azucarera de la Carlota Inc. and the Roxol Bioenergy Corp. in Negros Occidental.