Nice of you to have dropped by. I have saved your link somewhere, just in case. Though they’re not in my mind, or not the intention of this blogsite…

I just love to rant. Or, maybe I am out for some rare fish to catch

Farmers have been deemed non-factors. Question is, can sugar or ethanol mills stand or exist without the farmers? I think Dacongcogon knows better [if they have now learned their lessons] or else they are bound to repeat their mistakes.

Yeah, the husband of ex-wife of Kabayan Edu Manzano could be wasting our time.

As shown in the article of Amy R.Remo of Philippine Daily Inquirer, and as shown also by Butch Bacaoco of Sun Star Bacolod, it now appears that NEDA might as well be put under fire. It has either been sleeping on the job, or its administrators must be Burloloys at the expense of Juan dela Cruz! Maybe NEDA should publish its plans regarding development of sustainable, renewable source of energy for the country, [a need for fuels] which is expected to grow by leaps in the coming years, if it has got any plan at all…I wonder what the husband of Gov Vilma Santos has “right to reply” about that!

And Filipino landowners and farmers are not interested to hear about those Jatropha Curcas [and the billions of pesos to be spent on them] that Government arms like DENR Secretary Atienza have been pushing under the guise of “reforestation”. [Rodolfo Jun Lozada used to be a part of them.]

Talk of additional sugar mill is actually insane at this moment. Since the recovery of the sugar industry after the collapse in the 80s, more than half of the sugar mills in Negros have been operating in the red. Most of them had to shut down, bailed out, rehabilitated or taken-over, one time or another. Dacongcogon mill, for example, the most talked about success of the 70s, was also the most promising – being the biggest milling district in term of land area. But it was closed down in 2006 when it was operating way, way down minimum raw material requirement. The situation was so bad that there was not even enough bagasse to fire its boilers. It re-opened [some two months ago] under new management after several bail-outs, and long years of chronic deficit without sign of getting better. Normally, a sugar mill will have problem with surplus bagasse. Management attributed the failures to dilapidated facilities that it had not afforded to rehabilitate.

Presently, there is one sugarcane-Ethanol mill in Negros, located in Calatrava-San Carlos. The district used to be Sugar-milling that had collapsed. Other sugar mills like Maao are planning to convert to Ethanol.

While the present number of sugarcane mills appear small compared to the area of the sugar land, the farming sector has been sleepy and there is stiff competition by mills for supply of canes so that more than half of the mills are not actually doing good. Top performers are Victorias Milling Co and BISCOM.

The farming sector badly needs attention. I think the best solution is for State to Nationalize trading of Sugar and Bio-fuels than allowing the Trading sector, or any of the sectors, to manipulate and dictate on Agriculture. There is a demand for more sugarcane. There is a demand for ethanol. These demands are not transmitted to the agricultural sector. There is no de facto demand as far as Filipino farmers are concerned. And, maybe farmers need tax break instead of double taxation. And to think that the welfare of the farm workers has long been neglected in there. Meanwhile, a question has been raised:

The country now has a very big ethanol demand to fill but where is the ethanol?

And I think the question has already been answered. Some bad matters occupy space blocking the road and delaying the wheels of progress.