With the countdown to 2015 less than three years away, sugar farmers are trying to reinvent themselves to rise to the challenge of competing with tariff-free imported sugar.
2015 is the year that taxes on imported sugar will be dropped to only five percent, from the 28 percent that is being charged this year.
This is an agreement of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, where the Philippines is a member. We cannot remain a protectionist market in the midst of the worldwide trend where trade barriers are being taken away.
Sugar is a major crop for Negros Oriental. Surely, the AFTA implementation by 2015 will have a big effect on our economy. Even the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries, who were given their lands for tilling the sugarcane fields for so long, are also planting sugar. For many of them, this is the only crop they know that can bring about quick cash.
But unless the Philippine sugar industry improves to match the competition offered by big producers Brazil and Thailand, Negros Oriental will be headed for rough times.
Calls are being made to improve our farming practices by mechanizing our processes. But machines cannot be effectively used on one-hectare farms.
The suggestion of the Sugar Regulatory Administration to consolidate the small landholdings back to plantation sizes is seen as one big step in achieving more professionally managed farms.
If this is implemented as soon as possible, Negros Oriental can better prepare for 2015.
