Monday, January 22, 2007 Share blessings to your laborers, guv asks planters
CONVINCED by the assessment that sugar was good in terms of prices last year, Negros Occidental Governoe Joseph Marañon has asked sugar planters in Negros Occidental to also share the "goodwill" with their laborers.
The governor's appeal was delivered during his speech in the annual general assembly of the Negros del Norte Planters' Association held at the Victorias Milling Company last Saturday.
"The sugar industry has already been blessed for two consecutive years now. So its time now to share the benefits of good sugar prices with labor," Marañon said, adding that without the laborers, we (planters) cannot achieve good crops.
Last year's average price of sugar per 50 kilograms was P1,056.53.
Marañon also rallied on the sugar planters in the north to support the Bio-Fuels Act leading to ethanol production in Negros.
"With the present law, I believe that the sugar industry is now facing a brighter future," he said.
But aside from sugar, Marañon also asked the planters to venture in jatropha (kasla) planting, which the province is implementing soon the cultivation of an initial 1,000 hectares for jatropha planting in Murcia town.
With jatropha, Marañon said, "Cultivation of this plant would be another opportunity for the planters whose farms are spread out mainly in central Negros."
