The (IATF-EID) or the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has urged the local government units (LGUs) on Saturday to include sugar in relief packs aiming to help local sugar farmers amid the coronavirus crisis.
The task force spokesperson Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said that the Department of Agriculture (DA) has made the recommendation in an effort to offset the slump in the demand for sugar following business closures due to lockdowns in Luzon and other parts of the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nograles said during a virtual press briefing, “Aprubado po ang rekomendasyon ng DA na hikayatin ang mga LGU na isama ang asukal sa mga relief goods sa kani-kanilang lugar upang tulungan ang ating sugar industry.”
The Philippines has a total sugarcane plantation area of 409,714 hectares as of September 2019, based on the Sugar Regulatory Administration.
The country has 67 percent of the sugarcane plantation area that is located in the Visayas. The 19 percent of the plantation was located in the Mindanao and the remaining 14 percent can be found in Luzon.
85 percent of the majority of sugarcane farmers are considered small farmers. They cultivate 5 hectares and below of sugarcane. However, some 14 percent of farmers cultivate 5 to 50 hectares of sugarcane, while only 1 percent cultivate 50 hectares and above.
Nograles said, this, after National Task Force (NTF) COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. was authorized to abolish and reorganize sub-task groups to carry out the government’s response against the disease.
He added that the Department of Agriculture would lead the new task group. The other members of the task group are the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the National Security Council (NSC) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
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