The creation of integrated agro-industrial economic zones for sugarcane will benefit the industry because it will result in economy of scale and make sugar production more cost efficient, Enrique Rojas, president of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters, said yesterday.
“Sugarcane is a plantation crop…it calls for the consolidation of farms into more viable sizes,” Rojas said.
Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) Wednesday said he is filing a bill that aims to raise the value of sugarcane through the creation of integrated agro industrial economic zones that will not only produce sugar, but fuel, power and other by-products, to enable the industry to survive trade liberalization beyond 2015.
It will now be known as the Sugarcane Act, instead of the Sugar Act, he said.
Benitez made the announcement with Sugar Regulatory Administrator Ma. Regina Bautista Martin after receiving the consolidated inputs from various sugar federations.
The draft that Martin discussed with Benitez is not yet final, Rojas said
“It will still be fine-tuned by the technical committee formed by the sugar alliance,” he added.*CPG back
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