VICTORIAS CITY, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL -- Sugarcane growers in the Philippines and four other countries in Asia will be assured of disease-free planting materials under an initiative meant to boost sugarcane productivity.

In a statement, the Bureau of Agricultural Research said the program backed by the United Nations and the International Sugar Organization covers the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh.

The program also aims to help long-term competitiveness of sugarcane through development, dissemination, and adoption of high-yielding, post-resistant and ecologically adapted varieties.

Under the program, the sugar-cane planting materials exchanged among the countries will undergo thorough and elaborate quarantine and disease-indexing procedures established by the Philippine Sugar Research Institute Foundation, Inc., which is the project's executing agency.

After three years in quarantine, the sugarcane varieties will be evaluated for performance, adaptability and traits. Varieties that do well during the evaluation are recommended to planters.