Government pursues sugar block farming

MANILA, Philippines - New sugar block farms would soon rise in various provinces as a result of a memorandum of understanding signed among three government agencies.

The Departments of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Sugar Regulatory Administration forged an agreement Thursday for “collaborative and complementary efforts for the establishment and management of sugar block farms in several provinces.

These provinces include Cagayan, Isabela, Tarlac, Pampanga, Batangas, Albay, Camarines Sur, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Cebu, Leyte, Ormoc, Bukidnon, Davao del Sur, and North Cotobato.

“The identification and selection of the sugar block farms are based on an agreed set of criteria and discussed during the series of consultation meetings at field level. Separate memoranda of agreement shall be agreed upon and executed by DAR,” the MOU said.

The three agencies would pour in resources and technical expertise into the project.

The DA shall initially provide P1.7 billion while the DAR shall extend P4.2 million in funding.  

The SRA’s initial counterpart funding, on the other hand, shall be P3.06 million.

The funds would be sourced from the General Appropriations Act of 2015 and the SRA Corporate Fund.

The three agencies would identify the technical parameters of the project.

The SRA introduced the block farming system for sugarcane lands in 2012 in collaboration with the DA and DAR to increase the productivity of cultivation areas.

Under the system, small farms of less than five hectares are consolidated into blocks of at least 30 hectares while preserving ownership.

Farm productivity is improved through the establishment of integrated sugar production systems and systematic provision of farm inputs and technical assistance.

Around 85 percent of sugarcane farmers in the country have land holdings of five hectares and below due to land division by inheritance, sale and award under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Sugarcane, being a plantation crop, requires farm sizes of at least 30 hectares for cost efficiency in production.

The SRA earlier said with the aggressive implementation of CARP, landholders could no longer take advantage of economies of scale because of lack of financial ability to provide farm inputs.

Several sugar block farms established by the SRA for pilot testing have reported a 29 percent average increase in productivity in crop year 2013-2014 from the previous crop year.

According to the SRA, the 19 pilot block farms set up in Luzon and Visayas harvested an average of 65.29 tons of cane per hectare during crop year 2013 to 2014, up from the average yield of 50.78 tons per hectare upon the program’s implementation in 2012.

The block farm program aims for the eventual conversion of consolidated sugarcane farms into agribusiness centers through professionalized farm management and mechanized farming.

To date, 130 block farms have been enrolled under the program, covering a total area of 7,000 hectares.