• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
With the goal of further improving sugar production in Negros Island, the Sugar Regulatory Administration turned over P101 million worth of dump trucks and farm equipment to different mill districts and block farms on Saturday in Barangay La Granja, La Carlota City, Negros Occidental.
Turned over by SRA administrator Pablo Luis Azcona and Board Member Dave Sanson were 10 units of dump trucks worth P7 million each, farm implements worth P27,406,800 and a farm tractor with farm implements amounting to P3,647,000, witnessed by Representative Emilio Bernardino Yulo III of the Negros Occidental 5th district.
Seven of the 10 heavy dump trucks, which were received by Mill District Development Councils, are for use in the hauling of raw materials, such as mudpress, vinasse and organic inputs, among others, for soil rejuvenation projects.
The three other dump trucks were assigned to the SRA-La Granja Agricultural Research and Extension Center (LGAREC) in La Carlota City.
On the other hand, the farm implements were received by block farm recipients, and the farm tractor with implements was also turned over to the 5th District’s The United Block Farm Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Small Planters Organization (5D TUBO).
The dump trucks and farm implements were funded through the Sugar Industry Development Act (SIDA).
“Speaking from the heart of the SRA Board, we are very happy and very proud to provide our farmers, our block farms, with the best possible equipment that our government can afford,” Azcona said, in his speech during the ceremonial turnover at SRA-LGAREC compound in Brgy. La Granja, La Carlota City.
Yulo, a former SRA board member, thanked the SRA for the gift to the sugar farmers.
“With the decreasing land hectarage for sugarcane, the only way for us to go is to increase our productivity, and we cannot increase our productivity without our block farms having this modern equipment,” the solon stressed.
“It is our dream for every planter, every farmer, whether in block farms or the big farmers, to help you in your production and needs in sugar farming. What we ask is just good sugarcane production,” SRA Board Member David Andrew Sanson said.
Since the start of block farming from 2016 up to 2024, the SRA reported that of the P698,109,143.26 SIDA-Block Farm allocation, an amount of P279,314,091.86 was allocated for production support, including start up capital and for the nursery of high-yielding varieties, farm mechanization support amounting to P408,028,303.40, with P10,766,748 intended as additional livelihood assistance.* with PNA reports
