IN THE fields of Medellin, long known as the “Sugar Bowl of Cebu,” farmer Roel Sanchez bends down to check his crop.
He has been planting sugarcane for more than 20 years, but the future now looks uncertain. With the closure of the Bogo-Medellin Milling Company (Bomedco) in Barangay Luy-a, Sanchez no longer has a nearby mill to process his harvest.
To continue farming, he must ship cane across the Tañon Strait to Sagay City, Negros Occidental—an arrangement with mounting costs for labor, hauling, and sea transport.
“We may reach the point where sugarcane is no longer worth planting,” Sanchez admitted, pointing to rising costs and dwindling returns.
Many small farmers like him may be forced to abandon cane in the coming years unless help arrives.
Decline of the “Sugar Bowl”
The closure of Bomedco, which was long blamed on outdated equipment and low yields, left many growers with no viable mill.
The milling plant sits at the center of northern Cebu’s sugar-producing towns of Medellin, Daanbantayan, San Remigio, Bogo City, and Tabogon.
Founded in 1928, Bomedco was the backbone of northern Cebu’s sugar industry. At its peak in the early 2000s, the mill processed enough cane to produce 600,000 bags of 50-kilo raw sugar a year. However, by 2021, production had plummeted to just 80,000 bags.
Alfonso ‘Al’ Lim, president of the Bogo-Medellin Sugarcane Planters Association Inc., said the mill’s outdated machinery produced low yields, forcing many to ship cane to Negros mills like Lopez Sugar Corp. and Sagay Central Inc., which extracted nearly 50 percent more sugar per ton.
According to Sanchez, shipping cost at least P9,000 per ten-wheeler truck carrying 30 metric tons of cane, excluding expenses for harvesting and hauling. Farmers needed to ship at least 30 metric tons of cane to earn a profit.
In 2023, Bomedco suspended operations, citing a lack of cane delivery.
However, farmers argued the real issue was inefficiency. The closure left 2,800 of Medellin’s 4,450 hectares of cane land idle.
Lim said another problem was the declining membership in local associations and the conversion of agricultural lots to residential areas.
Case for corn
TO address the decline, the Cebu Provincial Government and the Department of Agriculture (DA) 7 launched the “Sugbo Maisan” program in 2022, promoting yellow corn as an alternative crop for small-scale sugarcane farmers.
The program is backed by a strong market: yellow corn is a key ingredient in animal feed, and Cebu is home to feed manufacturers like General Milling Inc. and San Miguel Foods Corp.
To accelerate the transition, the provincial government provided planters, dryers, and soft loans, guaranteeing a purchase price of P15 per kilo for wet corn—nearly double the market rate.
By 2024, DA 7 reported that the yellow corn area had doubled to 2,107 hectares in 2022, producing 6,449 metric tons. Still, this represents just 3.2 percent of Central Visayas’ 65,676 hectares of corn land and is far short of the 426,000 metric tons Cebu’s feed industry consumes annually.
Some farmers have already embraced the change.
Imelda Perolina Noynay of Caputatan Sur, Medellin, shifted to yellow corn after cane returns dwindled, a move she made 10 years ago.
“With two harvests a year, it can match sugarcane’s income,” Noynay said.
Risks and doubts
Despite the optimism, farmers like Lim and Sanchez remain cautious about switching to corn due to the following reasons:
Typhoons: Northern Cebu lies in a typhoon-prone corridor. While resilient cane stalks can bend and recover, corn cannot. A single storm, such as Typhoon Odette in 2021, can wipe out an entire crop.
Political uncertainty: “Sugbo Maisan” was a flagship program of former governor Gwendolyn Garcia, who lost in May 2025. With new leadership, it’s unclear if government support will continue.
Lack of local support for sugarcane: Lim argues that the problem lies not in the cane itself but in the lack of government investment. He believes that if farms and equipment were modernized, sugarcane could still be profitable.
What’s next?
For Sanchez, corn is a viable option if cane proves unfeasible.
Lim, however, insists that modernization is the only way to revive Medellin’s sugar industry.
“We have to be mechanized as manual labor is no longer attractive to youth,” he said.
Noynay, meanwhile, believes sustained government backing will determine if yellow corn becomes a true success story.
The future of northern Cebu agriculture remains uncertain. Whether through corn, cane, or both, much depends on whether leaders at the local and national levels can deliver the long-term support farmers need.