The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said it is working double time to attain its goals of boosting sugar output and increasing farmers’ incomes.

In a televised interview on Usapang Agrikultura on Monday, SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona cited the reasons the country has started importing sugar. Among the factors that affected domestic sugar production was the slowdown in research by the SRA starting in 1986.

“Aside from that, the biggest factor is that our farm sizes have shrunk. After land reform, we were at 400,000 plus hectares. Now, we’re at 386,000 hectares. The problem is that 85 percent of the farms are one hectare and below,” he said.

The SRA chief said that before 1986, the Philippines was exporting sugar, noting that the industry was highly mechanized, using machines for almost all processes in the field.

“But when we reached one to two hectares, the farmers could not afford to maintain and use tractors. If you have only one hectare, your income is only P50,000 to P100,000 per hectare. [O]ur industry is back to manual production and using carabaos. Our production has really decreased per hectare,” the SRA chief said.

Currently, sugar output is at 52 tons of cane per hectare, he said, which is equivalent to about 85 bags of 50-kilo sugar per hectare.

“Since 2022, we’ve been 100-percent double time. Now, we’re releasing new varieties. All the sugarcane we plant in the Philippines is produced locally,” Azcona said. “We also have a private research station, a private research institution that was founded in 1995 or 1997. They’re also helping us. Now, the mandate of our dear President and our dear DA Secretary Tiu Laurel is to make sure that the SRA is back to where it was before.”

He added that consolidations are in place to have more efficient coordination among sugar farmers nationwide. At least 267 block farms have been consolidated so far, equivalent to about 10,600 hectares.