City Economic Enterprises income up by 27.23% in Q1

The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) on Thursday urged farmers to form cooperatives to pursue block farming for the sugar industry.

In an interview with Radyo Pilipinas, SRA Acting Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said this strategy would help local producers increase their yield by 5 tons to 10 tons per hectare, referring to 30 hectares to 50 hectares of block farming.

“To make it more efficient, we need to group the beneficiaries into farms, a minimum of 30 hectares… The efficiency of a tractor is about 90-95 horsepower. That’s why if their group is that big, we can give them a tractor. We can also help them with technology because they will be able to plan the planting and harvesting into one farm,” Azcona said in mixed English and Filipino.

“We also encourage the creation of new cooperatives, to make it faster and to widen our coverage… We can upsize the equipment. Because in sugarcane farming, the bigger the equipment, the more efficient and faster.”

He noted that of the 390,000 hectares of sugar plantations in the country, 90 percent belongs to farmers owning at least one hectare to two hectares of land.

“There’s no tractor small enough for one to two hectares, so pagbigay mo ng traktora at hindi sila organized, pag-aagawan nila ‘yun. Kailan ‘yung schedule ng pag-araro? ‘Pag malaki silang block farm, sila mismo as a group, sila na magpa-plan… then ma-o-organize na ‘yung production cycle (so when you give a tractor and farmers are not organized, they will seize possession. When will be the schedule of plowing? But if their block farm is huge, they, as a group, will plan. Then the production cycle will be organized),” he said.

Sugar importation

Azcona, meanwhile, said the SRA would finalize the actual production data by the end of the month.

“Itong month of May na lang na actual production na lang ‘yung hinihintay natin para po ma-present natin sa pangulo ‘yung actual volume na kailangan i-import (We are just waiting for the actual production this May to present to the President the actual volume to be imported),” he said.

“It’s about almost 150,000 (metric tons) naman po talaga

TheDavao City Economic Enterprises reported that its collection for the first quarter of the year increased by 27.23 percent compared to the same period last year.

CEE Head Maximo Macalipes Jr., in an interview during the Madayaw Dabaw morning show on Wednesday said that the collection for the first quarter totaled Php67,267,079.75, higher than the Php52,867,793. 22 recorded in the same period of 2022.

“Mao ni siya ang pinakadako nga nareceive nato this quarter as compared to last year (This is the biggest we have received so far this quarter as compared to last year’s,),” Macalipes said.

He added that market operations contributed the biggest share with 64.39 percent of the total collection or a total of Php 43,309,561.67.

“Naa ta’y walo ka palengke ang Bankerohan ang nag-una ani (We have eight markets, and Bankerohan has taken the lead),” he said.

Based on CEE data, Bankerohan Public Market’s income for the first quarter of 2023 totaled Php 19,520, 223.17 or equivalent to 45.07 percent of the cluster’s total.

Macalipes said that the CEE continues to find opportunities to generate more revenues to support the projects of Davao City.

“Kani atong income mudiretso gyud ni siya sa city government of Davao para ma allocate na nato pangtabang sa programa ug serbisyo nga gina-align pod sa atong government karon (Our income will directly go to the City Government of Davao and allocate it to help the programs and services aligned by our local government),” he added.

He said that the slaughterhouse in Malagos, the Almendras Gym, Night Markets, the Sta. Ana Port and Magsaysay Park, which are all under CEE continue to operate for the city’s revenue generation. CIO