Sugar workers: Subsidies a sweeter solution than importing during harvest season
MANILA, Philippines — An organization of sugar workers on Thursday said it opposes a government order fast tracking the importation of refined sugar, adding it is the peak harvest season and that there is enough for domestic consumption.
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. ordered the Department of Agriculture to speed up the importation of 64,050 metric tons of refined sugar to stabilize prices. He said he was concerned with the "very high" November inflation rate for sugars, confectionery, and desserts at 38%.
National Federation of Sugar Workers secretary general John Milton Lozande said the government should instead subsidize farmers' fertilizer and fuel costs if it wants to lower the price of sugar. He said this would help small planters lower their cost of production.
According to Lozande, a sack of fertilizer now costs P3,000 from only P800 to P920 before. A farmer needs at least 18 sacks per hectare to have a good harvest of sugarcane.
Lozande also urged the government to put a price cap on sugar to avoid manipulation by unscrupulous traders, and agree to a higher minimum wage for sugar workers in the field and in mills and refineries.
NFSW said that sugar workers also "suffer the high living costs caused by high inflation rates...despite the higher income of big planters at the moment because of the high price of sugar."
In Negros Occidental, the country’s sugar capital, those who cut and load sugarcane only earn P280 to P350 per day, lower than the daily minimum wage of P410.
NFSW also called on Marcos, also the concurrent head of DA, to improve the country’s sugarcane production instead of relying on imports to ensure food sovereignty and sufficiency. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
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