The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources  has allotted P2.89 million to study and develop Western Visayas’ muscovado industry through the program “Science and technology development of the organic muscovado industry in Western Visayas”, a PCAARRD press release said.

The grant is expected to help sugarcane farmers improve their cultural management practices, increase their volume of production, and raise their income.

Partner-member agencies’ counterpart shares to the initiative totaled to P1.2 million as a way of expressing their commitment to address the needs of the industry.

The program, led by the Negros State College of Agriculture, will run for a year and has two components, including a comprehensive analysis of the muscovado supply chain in Antique and a benchmark study in Queensland, Australia, which has the biggest concentration of organically managed sugarcane farms worldwide, the press release said.

The second component is a technology demonstration of organic sugarcane production for muscovado processing in Negros Occidental and Antique, which started in December 2011.

 Under this component, trials will be set up in farmers’ fields to demonstrate organic sugarcane production. S&T interventions on land preparation, choice of variety, nutrient management, and pest control management will be introduced in the farm, the press release said.

Results of the demonstration trials will be compared with farmers’ existing inorganic method of sugarcane production.

Costs and returns involved in both farmers’ practice and recommended technology will also be compared. The technology on organic sugarcane production will be promoted through field days and other means to encourage other farmers in the region to do the same, the press release said.*

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