The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has placed the sugar industry’s losses at more than P1.2 billion in the Visayas, based on a partial assessment of the damage caused by Typhoon Tino.
Tino ravaged over 53,000 hectares across the mill districts of Negros Island, Capiz, Iloilo, Leyte and Cebu, affecting more than 16,000 sugar farmers.
SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said the agency has begun a full evaluation of farms hit by Typhoon Tino and Uwan to have a complete picture of the damage these two major disasters caused in sugar-producing areas.
“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. We can only hope these fields will recover,” Azcona said.
He reported expected delays in milling after four mills were forced to halt operations for nearly a week due to storm damage. Mills in La Carlota City and Binalbagan had to shut down before they were able to restart operations.
“Tino was among the strongest storms and the heaviest flooding we have experienced in two decades,” Azcona said, adding that the disaster struck an industry already grappling with RSSI. He said areas with no history of flooding were inundated, partly due to continuous ash fall from Mt. Kanlaon, which clogged rivers and drainage channels with ash and lahar.
The SRA has begun procuring fertilizers for distribution to affected mill districts and sugar associations.
The BISCOM mill district, covering Himamaylan City and the towns of Isabela, Binalbagan, Hinigaran and Moises Padilla, sustained the heaviest damage with more than 20,000 hectares affected.
This was followed by the La Carlota mill district with over 10,000 hectares, and the districts of San Carlos, Sagay-Danao and Ma-ao in Central Negros.
“These are partial reports, and we expect the numbers to rise once the full assessment is completed,” Azcona said, citing an initial conservative estimate of a drop of 500,000 bags or more in raw sugar output, excluding the drop in molasses production.
Despite the scale of the losses, Azcona said he remains hopeful that stakeholders will come together and ensure no one is left behind as the industry works toward full recovery.
