SRA celebrates "Positive Year" on its 39th Charter Year Sugar Output might Breach 2M Metric Tons

"It was a combination of intensive research and the hard work that you've all done that turned this crop year into a positive year," Sugar Regulatory Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said during the celebration of the Sugar Regulatory Administration's 39th Founding Anniversary at the SRA office in Quezon City yesterday.

Azcona said reports from the field is showing that they are about to breach the 2M metric tons mark, far exceeding their initial projection of 1.782 million metric tons, and the pre-final estimate of 1.840 million metric tons.

This, Azcona said was very surprising considering the challenges the sugar industry faced at the beginning of this crop year. "We were very prudent in our projection because we just came out of a very long drought due to the El Nino and yet, our canes recovered nicely, not to mention the stable sugar prices we've had through most of this season," he added.

The administrator attributed part of the success to President Marcos' idea and approval of moving the start of harvest from August to Oct. 1.

DA Sec. Francisco Tiu-Laurel has continually supported and pushed SRA to be the top research agency for sugarcane and the results are showing.

Our production improvement also comes from "a very responsive SRA," lauding the employees of "exceeding my expectations and now works like a system where everyone is doing their part for the good of the whole."

Azcona who focused on upgrading the research arm of SRA said a huge part of the positive output this year was due to the massive production and distribution of high-yielding varieties.

"Personally, I was not a believer of SRA varieties in the past,  but without a doubt,  we have produced very high quality cane varieties that increased our production output," he said, adding that the positive growth must serve as a challenge to the employees to refrain from being complacent.

"We have improved, we have shown that we can do it and we can still do more," Azcona said. 

Azcona accompanied by Agriculture Undersecretary Roger Navarro and SRA Board Member Ma. Mitzi Mangwag handed plaques to Service Awardees Arnulfo Jacobe, Lucia Lopez and Evelyn Estanislao (30 years), Marco Soriano (20 years), Jaime Cruz (15 years), Jennifer Rose Boyero, Maria Victoria Del Mundo and Marissa Tiu (10 years in service).