A lawmaker from Negros Occidental asked the national government to buy sugar directly from producers amid the continuing drop in the farmgate price of sugar.

Fifth District Rep. Emilio Bernardino Yulo, a former board member of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), said in a statement Friday that the move could stop the downtrend in sugar prices.

“I think one option is for the government to start buying sugar directly from our producers, at a price that will give them some margin of profit from their losses since sugar price went below production cost,” he said.

Yulo said he is joining the call for national intervention to abate the plummeting sugar prices as major producers’ associations earlier sought a “much-needed intervention” from President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.

In the past two weeks, mill-gate sugar prices were just about PHP2,500 per 50-kilo bag in Negros while in Bukidnon, even lower at PHP2,300-level.

These prices are way below the price levels of PHP3,200 for the same period last year, according to the United Sugar Producers Federation, the largest sugar association in the country.

SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona earlier said they have been pushing for PHP3,000 per 50-kilo bag, which is considered a fair market price.

Yulo said immediate help is needed by sugar producers, particularly the small farmers who comprise 80 percent of the sugar industry, noting that the current price level has resulted in a loss of at least PHP40,000 per hectare.

“With most small farmers owning between one and three hectares, the low price has been hurting them most,” he added.

Yulo said the national government bought palay directly from rice farmers through the National Food Authority.

“We can do the same for the sugar industry until prices stabilize. Government can sell this sugar directly to the consumers to bring down retail prices that have not as well gone down despite the low mill-gate prices in the past few weeks,” he added. (PNA)