Sugar Industry Faces Delays, Lower Yields as Weather and Pests Take Toll

The delays aren’t the only challenge facing the sugar industry this year. Even when the crop finally kicks off, farmers expect smaller harvests and lower-quality cane. The chairman of the Sugar Industry Control Board says this year’s extreme weather, along with pest and disease outbreaks, have slowed cane development across the northern districts. He explains how the impacts are already showing in the fields and what they’re hoping for in the weeks ahead. Here’s more.

 

Marcos Osorio, Chairman, Sugar Industry Control Board

“With the climate impacts after the harvest, during and after the harvest of last year, pest problems that the industry have been facing such as we experienced this year Mealybug, which was causing severe damage also along with the Fusarium wilt in sugar cane. All in all, as a result of weather and impact of pest and disease, cane fields that were harvested in the first half of the season last – this early this year have not seen development as it as a normal year. So canes are somehow have not developed adequately. Also, it has been impacted by pest disease and weather. We are also seeing a drop in number of cane stocks per linear meter, which means there will be a drop in terms of tall skin per acre. Also the, as a result of the rains we have been experiencing in recent weeks the quality of cane is also impacted by disease, by weather. So we hope that the rains could seize and that we can see the dry set in, or at least the cold fronts, so that it gets dry faster. And that will also contribute to improving on cane maturity. So I think all in all yes is a late start. It will contribute to improving the present situation on the field level in terms of the cans, skin quality, et cetera.”