Dutch NGO funds RP Muscovado production

A Dutch non-government organization (NGO) is funding the production of muscovado sugar in Balayan, Batangas.

The NGO, Agriterra, is bankrolling the Farmers for Food Programme (FFP) project with a 1.4-million Euro fund (approximately P88 million) from the European Union (EU).

Agriterra representatives recently met with the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) and the Nagkakaisang Mamamayan sa Kanlurang Batangas-Multi Purpose Cooperative (NAGKASAMA-MPC) in Balayan to get an overview of the cooperative’s initiative to produce organic muscovado sugar.

Roldan Muradian of Agriterra said he talked to NAGKASAMA-MPC members and visited their farm sites to find out what type of intervention is needed to push the muscovado sugar project forward.

“The overall objective of Agriterra’s involvement is to strengthen the services of national farmers’ organizations and their commodity clusters to address food security concerns,” said Ben Luther Lucas, Agriterra’s coordinator in the Philippines.

“Agriterra hopes to focus on small-scale farmers who are engaged in producing crucial food products like rice, corn, sugarcane and coconut, and will also look into diversification into other crops like root crops and vegetables, and livestock and fish production,” he added.

The muscovado project will call for NAGKASAMA-MPC farmers to dedicate one-fourth of their farms to sugarcane grown organically. The cane will be brought to a mill operated by another project partner, the Center for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, where the cane will be processed into muscovado sugar.

“We chose to partner with these organizations not only because of their good track record but also because of the commercial potential of muscovado sugar,” Lucas added.

Aside from the muscovado sugar project, Agriterra is supporting other agricultural projects in Camarines Sur, Zambales and Laguna.

Initially, 33 farmers out of NAGKASAMA-MPC’s over 270 members have been chosen to pilot the growing of organic sugarcane.

The project partners hope that muscovado sugar production will augment the farmers’ incomes, especially considering that muscovado sugar sells at a higher price than ordinary white sugar.

Additionally, the muscovado industry has been growing an annual average of 5 percent in the last 6 years.

source: mb