• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines (UNIFED) urged the Sugar Regulatory Administration to fast track inspections and demanded the proper calibration of sugar mill equipment.
In a statement, UNIFED President Manuel Lamata said he “questions the integrity of sugar mills” after “very doubtful” results of LKGTC (50 kilo bag per ton of cane) of their members’ produce as released by the mills.
“We have had truckloads of canes which reportedly have zero LKGTC, as extracted by the mills, which makes us suspect that something strange is going on,” Lamata said.
He added that sugar groups were allowed before to have their own chemists in the mills to check the veracity of mills’ extractions, but this practice has been discontinued.
Lamata said that while the long drought will have an effect on the LKGTC, “the results so far have been suspect and we urge the SRA to ensure that mill equipment are calibrated so as not to shortchange our sugar farmers.”
SRA Administrator Pablo Azcona released a memo on November 4 that ordered the creation of inspection teams in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to conduct “random inspections focusing on analyzing samples’ sucrose content, Brix and apparent purity,” after it received complaints from farmers of very low to zero LKGTC results, since they started milling last month.
Lamata said he is hoping that mills are not taking advantage of the farmers and asked the DA and SRA to ensure that the planters are protected from this situation.
Average figures in the past are 1.7 LKGTC on 50 tons per hectare, but since the start of the milling season it has gone down to 1.44 LKGTC.*
