Organic Muscovado

Refined sugar may not be as pure as it looks. Although it appears white, so much have been added in order to achieve the form that's acceptable to the market.

However, there is one kind of sugar in the market that is derived from organically grown sugarcane and is processed without chemicals-organic muscovado sugar by Alter Trade Corporation.

Alter Trade Corporation supports marginal farmers in Negros who have organized themselves into groups. These farmers grow sugarcane using organic fertilizers produced by Diversified Organic Enterprises, Inc., a subsidiary of Alter Trade Corp. Here, farmers can avail of an easy payment scheme. They are also trying to revive the vermicomposting program, however, it has a slower turnaround of fertilizer. And since a sugarcane plantation needs about a ton of fertilizers for every hectare, vermicomposting could not cope with the demands of their farmer-members. Mr. Edwin Marthine Lopez, executive director of Alter Trade Foundation, Inc. (ATFI) said that on the average, it takes about 27 50-kg bags of organic fertilizer to supplement a hectare. But their members are also into trash farming in order to make better use of their farm wastes and to add more organic matter to the soil.

Within 24 hours after harvest, the sugarcane is then brought to the Alter Trade milling central to be processed. The sugar by Alter Trade is certified organic because their sugarcane plantations and mills are inspected by the Institute of Market Ecology annually. The IMO certifies that Alter Trade muscovado is produced using world standard methods. Aside from the IMO, Alter Trade is being inspected regularly by other international organizations such as IFAT of Europe and FLO regarding their trade practices and labeling.

Alter Trade muscovado is available in supermarkets and specialty stores around the country, however most of their production supplies the demands in Japan, Europe, and Germany.

Aside from producing world-class organic sugar, Alter Trade's main aim is to help in then holistic development of small farmers. Financially, farmers benefit from a fair-pricing scheme while mill workers are given salaries above the minimum wage. They also have gender-sensitive programs in order to uplift the situation of women around the country. And it is also the company's desire that their efforts may be replicated by other organizations so that more farmers will benefit from such a program.

So for every pack of Alter Trade muscovado sugar bought, one knows that they are not only ingesting sugar that's free from chemicals, they are also helping uplift the lives of poor farmers in the Philippine countryside.