THE devastation caused by Severe Tropical Storm Paeng prompted the United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed) to seek the intervention of the President to raise the suggested retail price (SRP) of sugar from the current P70 per kilogram to at least P85 to 90 per kilogram.

Unifed President Manuel Lamata, in a statement Sunday, October 30, said "our sugar farmers need help to recover from the damage caused by the recent [severe tropical storm] that has inundated hundreds of sugar farms from north to south and the rest of the Visayas."

Before the severe tropical storm, Lamata said millgate prices were already going down but seeing the damage Paeng brought, they need immediate assistance from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to bring the retail price up until the farmers will be able to recover.

While sugar prices have gone down, "fertilizers and fuel prices are still on the rise and compounded with the typhoon's damage, our sugar farmers will have a hard time surviving this time," Lamata added.

He is confident that the President, as the head of the Department of Agriculture, will understand the situation as the storm has not only cost lives but "millions, perhaps billions of damage to our agriculture industry."