RP sugar millers plan land conversion<\/p>\n
BACOLOD, Philippines (Reuter): Philippine sugar millers said
\nthey planned to turn at least some of their land into industrial
\nestates amid declining productivity and a more open global
\ntrading environment.<\/p>\n
\"Six millers have plans to put up industrial estates,\"
\nPhilippine Sugar Millers Association (PSMA) executive director
\nJose Maria Zabaleta told Reuters.<\/p>\n
Zabaleta was attending a forum in the central Philippine city
\nof Bacolod to map out a blueprint for the conversion of a portion
\nof their lands to industrial use.<\/p>\n
\"The forum on different opportunities in the sugar industry
\nwas very appropriate as we adjust ourselves to the changes in the
\nbusiness environment and face competition of an open sugar market
\nin the near future,\" said Carlos Tupas, executive vice-president
\nof Victorias Milling Co.<\/p>\n
Daniel Lacson, former governor of Negros Occidental province,
\na sugar producing center, said the industry had to diversify into
\nnon-sugar areas because of its cyclical nature.<\/p>\n
\"Diversification is necessary so that even if sugar prices
\ndrop in the world market we will continue to stay alive,\" Lacson
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Lacson also said diversification was necessary to help the
\nformerly highly protected local industry prepare for the
\nemergence of a liberal global trading environment.<\/p>\n
He said at least 3,000 hectares (7,410 acres) of Philippine
\nsugar land had been converted into fish ponds in the 1980s after
\nsugar prices slipped on the world market.<\/p>\n
\"We cannot survive by just being an agricultural economy.
\nWe've got to industrialize,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"We need to draw up a master plan that will identify land that
\nshould stay as sugar plantations and lands that should be moved
\nout from sugar.\"<\/p>\n
Industry leaders said setting up industrial estates would not
\naffect domestic output. PSMA deputy executive director Vicente
\nCastro said the proposed industrial estates would only eat up a
\nsmall portion of the sugar lands.<\/p>\n
\"The areas to be covered are insignificant as millers are only
\nlooking at 10 to 30 hectares for conversion into industrial
\nestates. What is actually critical at this point is for us to
\nincrease our crop yield,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Philippines sugar crop yield dropped to 69 piculs per
\nhectare last year from 84 a decade ago due to lack of new
\ntechnology and decreasing productivity, he said.<\/p>\n
This compares to 120 piculs per hectare in major exporter
\nThailand, Castro said.<\/p>\n
Millers say Philippine sugar output faltered from 1990 as
\nbanks refused to accept farmers' land as collateral because of
\nuncertainties over ownership caused by an agrarian reform
\nprogram. The program was designed to break up large landholdings
\nand distribute it to landless farm laborers.<\/p>\n
\"Productivity of land distributed to small farmers suffered
\nbecause some of them did not have enough funds to buy farming
\nimplements,\" Castro said.<\/p>\n
The Philippines, once a major sugar exporter with overseas
\nsales peaking at 2.0 million tons in crop year 1976\/77, is now a
\nnet importer of the commodity due to rising consumption in an
\nexpanding economy.<\/p>\n
\"Ten or 12 years ago we were producing 2.6 million tons of
\nsugar with consumption at only 900,000 tons. This year crop
\nconsumption and production is almost equal at between 1.7 and 1.8
\nmillion tons,\" said Lacson.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rp-sugar-millers-plan-land-conversion-1447893297",
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