The El Niño phenomenon may reduce the country's anticipated 1.85 million metric tons (MT) of total sugar production this year, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said on Thursday, Sept. 14.
In a Laging Handa briefing, SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said the expected sugar production of the country may be reduced by 10 to 15 percent depending on the impact of El Niño on sugarcane farms.
He noted that the country produced 1.799 million MT of sugar last year.
“Sa ngayon po, we are estimating an increase to 1.85 million metric tons [ng asukal], kaso po iyong inilagay po natin sa sugar order na there is a possibility na bababa po iyong 1.85 million natin ng 10 to 15 percent depending on the forecasted El Niño po, depende sa tama ng El Niño po sa mga tubuhan po natin ( Right now, we are estimating an increase to 1.85 million metric tons in sugar production, in the case of what we put in the sugar order there is a possibility that our 1.85 million will decrease by 10 to 15 percent depending on the forecasted El Niño, it depends due to El Niño's impact in our sugarcane farms),” he said.
El Niño is expected to hit the country from November this year to January next year based on the forecast of the state weather bureau, Azcona said.
“So we will monitor the severity of this and we will see if it will bring about a decrease on the estimated production or hindi po (or not),” he said.
Per Azcona, the crop year has already started this September and will end on August 30 next year.
The SRA chief said the country has enough buffer stock of refined sugar while there is still at least two months' worth of buffer stock for raw sugar which the current administration wanted to attain.
As the agency pushes to improve sugar production by helping farmers, Azcona said the SRA is continuing its block farm program, where they organize small farmers of one to two hectares into block farms of 30 hectares or more. Farmers are given cash assistance for start-up capital and they were also provided with brand-new tractors, he added.