Zubiri seeks urgent gov’t action to address ‘sugar crisis’
While Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri welcomed the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) decision to pause sugar imports for 2026, he stressed that the government must urgently step in to address a brewing sugar crisis.
He noted that mill-gate prices are sliding below production costs and squeezing farmers who are already struggling with the rising prices of farm inputs.
Zubiri said the industry will need “stronger, direct intervention to prevent more sugar farmers from bleeding.”
“They need more help beyond this pause on sugar imports, whether that is through capital infusion, or through a government buying program that will ensure stable income for our sugar farmers and workers, and equitable prices for consumers. We need a strong and decisive DA and SRA (Sugar Regulatory Administration) to stabilize the mill-gate price of sugar,” Zubiri said in a statement.
Development fund
The Senate leader is also pushing for maximized utilization of the Sugar Development Fund (SDF) under the Sugar Industry Development Act, saying it should translate to visible support that farmers can feel on the ground, especially during periods of sustained losses.
“We pour a billion pesos into the Sugar Development Fund every year, so I hope that this is reaching our farmers,” Zubiri said.
He added: “When the farmers are incurring losses like this, they should be supported by SRA by providing better infrastructure, credit and research and development support. If we can maximize the use of the SDF now, we can even push for its increase, so we can help more farmers.”
Mill-gate prices have been dismal since the start of the sugar milling season in October 2025, dropping from P2,200 per 50-kilogram bag of sugar in October to P2,075 in the last week of December.
In comparison, sugar fetched somewhere between P2,400 and P2,500 per bag during the 2024 milling season.
“What used to be P2,500 per bag of raw sugar is now down to P2,000 per bag, while the costs of labor, fertilizer and pesticides have been increasing,” Zubiri added.
The senator, who is also a registered agriculturist, noted that many sugar farmers are operating with limited capital and have little room to absorb sudden price drops, especially those who are agrarian reform beneficiaries.
