Why Are Caneros Not Investing More in Their Fields?

So, if there is a need for greater production in the sugar industry, why are farmers not investing in their farms to generate more annually? Avilez contends that sugarcane farmers are unwilling to make the investment because a profitable return is not guaranteed on that production. Avilez also called out the Sugar Cane Production Committee for reported inefficiencies.

 

Olivia Avilez, Cane Farmer Relations Manager, ASR/BSI

“The farmers will not want to invest in their own way if they are not given the appropriate production. So, if they are improving productivity, they want a return. Nobody, no farmer wants to invest without gaining a return or an appropriate profit out of that. Currently, the way the industry works for production estimate is really hindering, stifling, even robbing from farmers who are producing higher than the average that SCPC is willing to give. So, one of the key deterrents or the key demotivator here from the farmer’s side is, if I improve my productivity will you be able to give me what I deserve. At the same time, it compensates farmers who are underproducing from the average. By that I mean, farmers who are producing ten tons per acre, I don’t mean small farmers, I mean certain farmers who are not investing in their fields, in their productivity they are given the average of seventeen tons so that they have seven tons to play with. While the farmer who produces twenty-five tons is also given the average of seventeen tons. And that is what demotivates farmers, when they are not given the productivity, their fields are earning.”