THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Western Visayas is preparing for the possible effects of the proposed liberalization of sugar importation among local agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), its top official said.
DAR-Western Visayas Regional Director Stephen Leonidas, at the sidelines of the Negros First Transformative Agriculture Summit at Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City said on Thursday, January 31, the sugar import deregulation would really impact both big planters and small farmers including ARBs.
Leonidas explained that an open-market importation would result in competition among local and foreign products.
“Given the lower price of local sugar, it would be difficult for ARBs to compete as they are not yet ready,” he said, stressing that other sugar-producing countries have higher production output but lower production cost.
Under such an open-trade situation, the tendency for local sugar farmers and producers is to reduce the price of their products resulting in smaller profit, the regional director added.
It can be recalled that oppositions from industry stakeholders, especially in Negros Occidental, stemmed from the pronouncement of Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.
On the contrary, Diokno said sugar in the Philippines is very expensive compared with global prices so they plan to deregulate the industry probably this year.
The Budget chief said there is a need to relax the rules on importation that puts pressure on the domestic economy to compete with the rest of the world.
In the bid to allay the possible effects of the liberalization once implemented, DAR- Western Visayas recognized the need to strategize especially on the production aspect of ARBs.
In fact, the regional line agency has already started talking with various industry stakeholders to come up with strategies, Leonidas said.
Leonidas said they are also banking on the diversification plan of the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental.
Under DAR’s effort alone, there are about 100 hectares of agrarian areas in the province that are into organic farming, vegetable, rice, corn farming, and livestock growing.
Leonidas said these ARBs are gradually shifting to other crops in order for them, just in case liberalization pushes through, not to be adversely affected like during the previous slump in the sugar industry.
“We are preparing for that whatever effects, negative or positive, to our ARBs,” he said, adding that Negros Occidental has larger ARB-covered area compared to other regions in the country.
The average area for ARBs in the province is one to 1.5 hectares per farmer. In terms of number, there are about 74,000 ARBs just in the southern portion of Negros Occidental.
Of about four million-hectare area distributed nationwide, about 50 percent are for ARBs.