Antique’s Muscovado Sugar Gets A Lift
Upgrading of processing method and facility is doing wonders to the small muscovado mills in Antique.
In this province where muscovado sugar production is a major industry, there are 149 village-level muscovado mills that annually produce more than 2,000 tons of muscovado sugar from 702 hectares of sugarcane fields. These small mills help propel the province’s economy while providing jobs to the people.
Antique was also the country’s number one muscovado producer in the 1970s until local farmers shifted to planting other crops when prices of sugar in the world market dropped.
Muscovado sugar is made from boiling the juice extracted from sugarcane until it evaporates, leaving only 30 percent of the original volume which is then dried and allowed to solidify into dark brown sugar. People who are health-conscious prefer it over refined sugar because it is naturally produced without chemicals.
The conventional method of muscovado sugar milling (open pan evaporation) which is still being employed by most small muscovado mills today results in huge sugar losses from the field to the mill. This also produces lower quality sugar because of the impurities present in the product, hence affecting its appearance and marketability.
Members of Binirayan Fair Traders, an association of small muscovado sugar farmers and processors in Antique, however, are lucky because they were able to overcome these constraints with interventions from appropriate agencies.
For one, each of the seven miller members of the association was granted financial assistance worth P85,000 by the Department of Science and Technology through its Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SET-UP) in 2006 for the acquisition of a stainless steel cooling trough (for curing) and a settling tank for the cane juice. These loans were free from interest and are payable in five years.
According to member Jessie Natan, owner of Natan’s Sugar Mill located at Barangay Guisijan in Laua-an, the improved facility had eliminated the minute particles that lowered the quality of their muscovado. These particles, he said, came from the powdery bark of the cane, which was carried over in the product. Thanks to the provision of a stainless settling tank, their muscovado has now negligible sediments.
From cane juice extraction to packing of the muscovado, the association is strictly observing sanitary measures and good manufacturing practices to maintain high quality of the muscovado that they produce. Their effort paid off as high-quality muscovado is now sold at a higher price ranging from P38 to P45 per kilo. Prior to this, muscovado was sold at P10 to P15 per kilo.
The seven millers and seven food processors comprise the Binirayan Fair Traders headed by Wilmar Jones Montero. Together they employ 140 persons that include sugarcane farmers, harvesters and millers from the poor rural areas in Antique.
At its current capacity of 120 tons per milling season, the association has Western Visayas and Metro Manila for its market. Natan said that it’s good that they are being assisted by the Advocate of Philippine Fair Trade, Inc. (APFTI) which helps them in the marketing and promoting muscovado sugar.
Muscovado is also entered in the government’s “One Town-One Product Program” for the province of Antique, which makes it easier to market the product because it is being identified as Antique’s produce.
Aware of the big market potential of muscovado in both the domestic and export markets, members of Binirayan Fair Traders say that they are now in need of additional credit assistance for them to come up with a new and improved packaging that will make their muscovado sugar more marketable.
