Sugarcane remains one of the largest agricultural subsectors in the Philippines. Presently cultivated in over 420,000 hectares representing about 3.4 percent of the country’s arable lands across 19 provinces (DBP, 2015), its gross value-added recently grew by 14.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared with the same period a year ago (PSA, 2018). In absolute terms, one estimate puts the sugarcane industry’s contribution to the nationally economy at PhP 70 billion annually (SRA, 2012). The crop is processed into three major products (i.e. sugar, bioethanol and power), with four-fifths of the overall production being consumed locally (DBP, 2015).

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Title: Unsweetened realities: On workers in the Philippine sugarcane industry
Researcher: Ronell Delerio