MAKATI CITY – Administrator Ma. Regina Martin of the Sugar Regulatory Administration reiterated calls for the consolidation of small sugarcane farms around the Philippines back into “block plantations”, if the country is to cope with the rising challenges of world trade.

Martin, who was among the speakers at the initiative, “Children of the Canes: A National Conference for the Protection and Development of Children in the Sugar Industry,” organized by the Laura Vicuña Foundation Inc. at the Asian Institute of Management here Tuesday, said that the measure would ultimately turn into a sustainable economic enterprise.

This, in turn, will benefit the country as it faces stiffer competition from other sugar-producing nations due to the impeding lowering of tariff rates in sugar trading by 2015, Martin said.

As to child labor, Martin explained that aggregating the small sugarcane farms which are now in the hands of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program beneficiaries, will discourage child work because larger plantations will naturally be run by adults with the help of mechanization.

Some 90 percent of sugarcane farms are owned by small farmers, a large area of which, Martin said, is no longer tilled by the CARP beneficiaries.

What happened is land distribution, not CARP, Martin said.

She explained that child labor happens in small sugarcane farms because the farmers who till them only have their children to help them do the task.

However, Martin said that the drive to finally weed out child labor in sugarcane farms “has arrived”, or has made a considerable success through the convergence of efforts by state agencies, local government units, and non-government organizations.

LVFI is run by nuns under the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in Sta. Mesa Manila, and is committed to helping abused children, including those involved in labor.*PP

back to top