‘Tino’ causes P1.2B in sugar loss, affects 16K farmers
BACOLOD CITY—The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) on Friday estimated the losses to the sugar industry in the Visayas at more than P1.2 billion, based on a partial assessment of the devastating damage caused by Typhoon “Tino” (international name: Kalmaegi) that swept through its provinces on Nov. 4.
Tino wreaked havoc in over 53,000 hectares of sugar fields covering the mill districts on Negros Island and the provinces of Capiz, Iloilo, Leyte and Cebu, affecting more than 16,000 sugar farmers, SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said.
Azcona said the SRA mobilized field personnel to conduct a full assessment of all areas including farmlands that were also in the path of Typhoon “Uwan” (Fung-wong), which came after Tino, “so we can have a full picture of the damage these two major disasters caused in sugarland areas.”
Mills’ forced shutdown
“We have seen entire fields decimated by Tino especially in the fourth and fifth districts of Negros Occidental where harvestable canes were flattened and flooded and we can only hope that these fields will be able to recover,” Azcona said.
Azcona said they expected delays in milling, with four mills forced to stop operations for almost a week as they too have been damaged, citing the mills in La Carlota City and Binalbagan that had to shut down for a week before they were able to refire their mills.
“Typhoon Tino was among the strongest storms and the heaviest flooding we experienced in the past two decades and a major challenge to our industry that is already facing problems with the RSSI (red-striped soft-scale insect) infestation,” Azcona said.
“Tino also flooded areas which have never been flooded in history, and our understanding is that the flooding was also brought about by Mt. Kanlaon’s continuous ashfalls, clogging rivers and vital drainage with ash and lahar,” he added.
Azcona said the SRA has started procuring fertilizers to aid farmers who were badly affected and these will soon be distributed to mill districts and sugar associations.
Hardest hit were sugar lands in Biscom mill district covering Himamaylan City and the towns of Isabela, Binalbagan, Hinigaran and Moises Padilla where over 20,000 ha of sugarlands were severely damaged, he said.
These were followed by the La Carlota mill district with over 10,000 ha, and the San Carlos district which includes Canlaon, Sagay-Danao district, and Ma-ao district, Azcona added.
“These are partial reports from the field and we expect the numbers to grow after we have the full assessment from the field, with initial conservative drop of 500,000 bags or more or raw sugar, not counting the molasses drop,” Azcona said.
Azcona remained hopeful the industry would recover and “there is no better time than now for all stakeholders to come together and help each other to ensure that no one is left behind and we remain steadfast as a united sugar industry.”
