A Bitter Harvest

For sure, the sugarcanes of Negros taste sweet, but the harvest is bitter. While officials and federations debate policy in boardrooms, a quiet tragedy unfolds for the small farmers who are the backbone of the industry.

The numbers are brutal and unforgiving: with production costs hovering around PHP 2,500 per 50-kilogram bag, the current millgate price of PHP 2,200 is a verdict on a family’s future. Every sack of sugar harvested at a loss pushes a farmer closer to ruin, making their back-breaking labor feel worthless.

The current status is not by chance but a direct consequence of a broken and reactive policy framework. This year’s crisis was ignited by the now-infamous Sugar Order No. 8, which authorized the importation of a massive 424,000 metric tons of refined sugar. As documents reveal, the order was signed on June 28, 2025, a full nine days before a supposed “consultation” was held with sugar leaders. The meeting was a sham, a hollow gesture designed to create a veneer of stakeholder involvement when the decision had already been made. This single act epitomizes the vacillating attitude of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), which lurches from one extreme to another – allowing massive importation one season, then slamming the brakes the next. This boom-bust cycle creates the very volatility it is meant to prevent, proving the agency is failing in its mandate.

While the government’s newly announced halt on imports offers a temporary reprieve, it is merely a painkiller, not a cure. The long-term survival of the Philippine sugar industry depends on moving beyond these cyclical import battles. The real, underlying challenges – pest infestations, erratic weather, and declining farm productivity – cannot be solved by simply closing our borders.

The path forward has already been legislated but poorly implemented. The Sugarcane Industry Development Act (SIDA) of 2015 was created precisely to modernize the sector through research, infrastructure development, and subsidies. Yet, years later, its promise remains largely unfulfilled, with farmers still struggling with low yields compared to their ASEAN counterparts. A genuine solution requires a serious, long-term commitment to finally funding SIDA’s core components: developing pest-resistant cane varieties, building crucial farm-to-mill roads, and empowering small farmers through block farming programs.

The industry can either continue applying temporary fixes to a recurring crisis or finally build a modern, resilient, and competitive sugar industry from the ground up. Perhaps it is time for the SRA to transform from a reactive manager of crises into a proactive architect of stability and growth.