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Sugar Season Can’t Start!: Cane Fields Are Waterlogged
posted (December 16, 2013)
At the top of our newscast, we showed you the latest coming out of this weekend's general meeting on the ongoing bagasse dispute. The reality is, however, that even if there was not an impasse between the factory owners and the cane farmers, they couldn't start the crop season - even if they wanted to!

And that's because of the rain. In November alone, Orange Walk and Corozal experienced rainfall that was almost 200 percent more than the 30 year average. That's like the difference between one cup and three cups!

This weekend, we also got an opportunity to see first-hand the damage that the rains have caused to this year's crop. Daniel Ortiz has that story:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
These fully mature stalks of cane look ready to harvest and deliver to the mill to be grounded for sugar extraction. But the truth is that they are nowhere near ready. The cane has been saturated for weeks on end, soaking up all the flood waters from the rains over the last few months. Because of this, they don't meet the standards set for sucrose purity, and if they were to be delivered now, the farmers would be operating at a loss.

Leocaido Javier Keme, Cane Farmer
"Obviously, these canes have been under stressed absorbing water from weeks I could say and even though you can see the cane has the height it looks as if it is ready, but if you test it, if will give you maybe 65%-70% of purity. Even though it looks ready for harvest - in other areas this would be ready for harvest."

Javier Blanco - Chemist Representing Cane Farmers
"Close to 70% of the content of the cane itself is part water, so in a humid environment, when we have a lot of rain the cane by nature absorbs water that is in the ground and if there is a lot of water then that sugar that is inside the stalk itself is diluted and it means that farmers is going to be transporting much more water during these rainy season and the content of sugar in itself is diluted. In that sense more cane is going to be used to get 1 ton of sugar."

How much is that loss? Well the chemist says that they will have to grind 50% more cane to get the same sugar content they would have gotten if the sucrose purity were up to the standards. That's a major waste for the farmers.

Javier Blanco - Chemist Representing Cane Farmers
"For example, we have done evaluations throughout the entire region and we have done a calculation of the theoretical sugar that we should be getting if in case we have been harvesting. It is very close to 16 tons of cane to 1 ton of sugar. That means that we were expecting 10 tons of cane to 1 ton of sugar - a TCTS of 10 going to 5 that means 5 more. Doing a direct ration and proportion to the price we have - it would represent that more or less instead of $72 for these tons that we have. If we would go to harvest, it will represent close to $48. Farmers are going to be operating in a sense of loss because weather conditions would cost much more the harvesting of that same tonnage and plus they are going to take out less sugar in that same tonnage."

Another challenge for the farmers are very poor conditions of the sugar roads. These roads, like the rest of the country, have been taking a beating from the excessive rains.

It's dangerous to try to cross over them, and if they try to come through with heavy equipment, they will get worse. The farmers are hoping that Government fixes them sometime soon.

Leocaido Javier Keme, Cane Farmer
"As you can see, you can take a good look on the sugar roads; these are the feeder roads that connect - bring the cane from to farm to the main roads. These sugar roads are in deplorable conditions. It is very difficult, it's really under water right now and it will really take a good 2-3 weeks so that we can work - to say that we can take out some product from there."

Prime Minister Dean Barrow has said that he will make paving the sugar roads a priority if the farmers agree to deliver the cane.

The farmers say that Government should act no matter what happens with the bagasse dispute because when it is settled, the road works will slow the cane delivery.

Leocaido Javier Keme, Cane Farmer
"It is very important: 1.) because we have to acknowledge that it cannot be done in 1, 2 or 3 days. It will take weeks, so it is very important that it is address as soon as the weather can permit in one or two days of sun dry that they can work. They should take good advantage of that opportunity. Because as you can see the weather is not promising that that it's going to be sunny to let the work be done."

And while that's the advice for Prime Minister, the chemist also had advice for the farmers. He said that there needs to be deadline to start, no matter what the challenges are, or their investment will be at risk.

Javier Blanco - Chemist Representing Cane Farmers
"At the end of December to beginning to January regardless of weather conditions in a sense, we need to start the crop because it means that the crop itself will be extended and it will go into the rainy seasons."

Ideally, the farmers want to deliver cane that has a sucrose purity of 81%. That would allow them to grind 10 tonnes of cane to produce 1 tonne of sugar. It is forecasted that with that purity, the 1.15 million tonnes of cane could be milled to produce 115,000 tonnes of sugar for 2014. Tests will be done later this week to determine how close the sucrose levels are to that 81%.

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