Former Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri  Saturday said he is calling for an extension on the lifting of tariffs on imported sugar from 2015 to 2018 to allow the Philippine sugar industry to be ready to  survive.

The Philippines needs to  push  biofuel    and biomass energy production  to increase the income of the country’s sugarcane farmers, and  pass  the Sugarcane Act  authored by Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District)   to ensure long term reforms, he said.

“We need to maximize this and move now,” said Zubiri,  who spoke before the Planters Association of Southern Negros in Binalbagan, Negros Occidental.

 Zubiri, who plans to run for senator next year,   said “let us also elect leaders who will give their commitment to the sugarcane industry’s survival”.

  He warned that when cheap sugar from Australia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia enter tariff free, the Philippines will be unable to compete.

Under  the ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement tariff on imported sugar entering the country dropped from 38 percent last year to 28 percent this year. It will further drop to 18 percent in 2013, 10 percent in 2014 and 5 percent in 2015.

Tariff  rates on imported sugar should be kept at the 2011 level of 38 percent, Zubiri said.

How can we compete when other  countries subsidize their sugar production by giving cheap fertilizer, cheap mechanized equipment, and  low interest rates on agri loans, he said.

“The sugar industry stakeholders  must unite  to look for solutions to keep our industry alive,” he said.

Zubiri stressed the need to speak with one voice  in asking government to extend assistance to bring down the costs of production and help farmers to avail of cheap equipment such as tractors, mechanized planters and other important implements.

 The industry must  promote the biofuels production as an alternative use for sugarcane, he said.

Zubiri said he met with Mark and Charlie Cojuangco at the airport, who said they plan to put up a biofuels plant in Negros occidental that will produce 3,000 liters a day.

“My dream is to see  Negros as the Brazil  of Asia where all the vehicles are running on E85 fuel,” he said.

Zubiri, who authored the country’s biofuels law, said gas companies are mandated to mix 10 percent ethanol with gasoline but today we cannot meet the demand for ethanol.

The country has  four ethanol plants producing about 100 million liters of ethanol but 400 million liters is needed, he said.

The price of fuel ethanol is currently higher than sugar “so let’s maximize the value of sugarcane,” Zubiri added.

Zubiri also stressed the need to promote biomass energy production under his renewable energy law, noting that Negros can produce as much as 1,000 megawatts of electricity with the use of bagasse and cane trash.

“What was once thought to be garbage  can now be utilized  for energy production and create an added income  for the farmers,” he said.*CPG

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