The Historical Development of Negros Occidental
As part of the regional specialization in agriculture, the province of Negros Occidental became the focus of Philippine sugarcane production. Located 300 kilometers south of Manila, Negros is in the center of the Philippine archipelago. Technological innovations—the introduction of foreign sugarcane varieties and furnaces fueled by bagasse (waste cane)—and foreign-financed sugar-mill construction led to the rapid expansion of sugarcane production in Negros Occidental beginning in the mid nineteenth century. In the 1920s, the American colonial government facilitated significant further expansion of Negros sugar production by financing the construction of six centrifugal mills (centrals) through the Philippine National Bank. The provinces of Negros Occidental and Oriental have generally accounted for over two-thirds of Philippine sugarcane production. Sugar exports, primarily the United States, supplied roughly 20 percent of Philippine foreign exchange earnings in the 1960s and 1970s.
Expansion of sugarcane production in Negros was marked by extreme concentration of landownership. Spanish barriers to foreign capital—restrictions on Protestants landownership, inter-island migration, and inter-island travel by foreigners—prompted reliance on part-Chinese mestizos as brokers between European commercial interests and sugar planters. In turn, these mestizos came to dominate the sugar industry in Negros. Sugar production was organized around haciendas employing hired labor.
To Be Continued..
As part of the regional specialization in agriculture, the province of Negros Occidental became the focus of Philippine sugarcane production. Located 300 kilometers south of Manila, Negros is in the center of the Philippine archipelago. Technological innovations—the introduction of foreign sugarcane varieties and furnaces fueled by bagasse (waste cane)—and foreign-financed sugar-mill construction led to the rapid expansion of sugarcane production in Negros Occidental beginning in the mid nineteenth century. In the 1920s, the American colonial government facilitated significant further expansion of Negros sugar production by financing the construction of six centrifugal mills (centrals) through the Philippine National Bank. The provinces of Negros Occidental and Oriental have generally accounted for over two-thirds of Philippine sugarcane production. Sugar exports, primarily the United States, supplied roughly 20 percent of Philippine foreign exchange earnings in the 1960s and 1970s.
Expansion of sugarcane production in Negros was marked by extreme concentration of landownership. Spanish barriers to foreign capital—restrictions on Protestants landownership, inter-island migration, and inter-island travel by foreigners—prompted reliance on part-Chinese mestizos as brokers between European commercial interests and sugar planters. In turn, these mestizos came to dominate the sugar industry in Negros. Sugar production was organized around haciendas employing hired labor.
To Be Continued..
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