Manila: Mayors in Iloilo are calling for temporary limits on the importation of sugar during peak milling months to protect local sugar farmers. In a resolution released on Tuesday, the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Iloilo chapter called on President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), and the Department of Agriculture (DA) for a fair market value for local sugarcane harvests; protection of small farmers, mill workers, and agrarian reform beneficiaries; and a sustainable sugar industry that strengthens food security and rural livelihoods.

According to Philippines News Agency, the LMP stated that Western Visayas, particularly Iloilo and Negros Island, is home to thousands of sugarcane farmers, mill workers, and agrarian reform beneficiaries whose livelihoods depend on fair and stable mill-gate prices. “However, the influx of imported sugar –especially when it coincides with the milling season– has led to depressed prices that threaten the survival of small farmers and rural workers,” it said. “Regulating their timing is crucial to balance consumer protection with the constitutional duty to protect Filipino farmers.”

Last week, the Jalasig Sugarcane Planters’ Association Inc. wrote an open letter addressed to President Marcos, appealing for his immediate action to protect the national sugar industry. The association –with 5,666 members, mostly small farmers– said that for several years, the importation, supposedly to address production shortfall, has resulted in the ‘flooding of the domestic market, depressed farmgate prices and chronic oversupply’ that carries over into succeeding crop years.

“Despite assurances that no importation will take place during the milling season, the adverse effects of previous over-importation are already being felt. Local planters are being forced to sell their produce below cost, while molasses producers suffer from collapsing domestic prices due to unchecked imports,” part of the open letter stated.