Private cane farmers have systems set for crop start

By Sheria Brathwaite

Private sugar cane farmers are ready and waiting on Government to ring the bell to signal the start of the sugar harvest with many expecting increased yields for 2023.

On Tuesday, a Barbados TODAY roving team visited three of the 12 private farms to get a sense of the level of preparedness. Management at all three establishments reported that systems are ready to go.

They are all expecting an increase in yields and a bumper harvest.

At Edgecumbe Plantation in St Philip farm manager Richard Mayers said “preparations were going great” with only a few minor adjustments left to be made to the harvester.

He has estimated that 9 100 tonnes of cane would be harvested from 402 acres, which he said was 2 000 more tonnes than last year’s output from 355 acres.

Over at Ashbury Farms in St George, manager Michael Gill said he had more than 1 500 tonnes to reap from 70 acres, which was significantly greater than his output over the past few years.

Gill said that over the past decade he has had difficulties each year finding interested individuals with the right skill-set and determination to cut the canes. Last year, he added, if he had not purchased a harvester just before the end of the season, a large quantity of canes would have rotted in the fields.

“We have over 1 500 tonnes of cane to reap this year, more than the last five or six years since Andrews [sugar factory] shut. This is the most that we have grown because we have acquired a harvester. We were having difficulty getting them cut. Year after year you sit down waiting to see cutters and in 2022 we only saw three cutters so we bought one from the Mount Plantation,” he said.

Last year, he produced about 1 300 tonnes of cane from about 60 acres and some of the stalks were sold to rum producers and small business people who sell cane juice.

Over at Andrews Plantation in St Joseph, the farm manager of H&G Farms said: “We are basically ready; we are just waiting on the word go.”

The manager, who preferred not to use his name, said that from about 600 acres, he was going to deliver 16 000 tonnes of cane to Portvale Sugar Factory, an increase of 4 000 tonnes, from more than 400 acres, compared to last year.

A check with chairman of the Barbados Sugar Industry Limited (BSIL) Mark Sealy indicated that the other farmers were also ready. He was pleased with the report he got from calling around to the various farms.

Earlier this month, Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir said that the harvest would begin by mid-February, with Sealy insisting that it started no later than the 15th of next month.

However, according to agronomist and acting head of the Agronomy Research Department (ARD) Nyah Nyhathu the harvest could only commence if environmental conditions were right and the crop was mature.

He explained that the ARD had to carry out an island-wide brix survey to confirm the readiness of the canes but that exercise is yet to be completed because of the recent rains.

The farm managers agreed on Tuesday that more sunshine was needed for things to run smoothly.

“We need some sun, we have been getting rain almost everyday for the last two months and we are going to need at least three/four weeks of sun to get the earth dry out for mechanical harvesting,” said Mayers.

Based on the first estimates given by the private farmers, Sealy said they were going to produce 30 per cent more canes than last year.

He anticipated that they would reap 86 000 tonnes of canes, up from last year’s 66 000 tonnes and 67 000 tonnes in 2021.

With Government pulling out of the sugar industry and leaving it in private hands, Weir said Barbados should produce several hundred thousand canes, similar to what was produced when sugar was “king”.

The farm managers said they were excited about ramping up production adding that they had the capacity to do so.

Mayers said he was treating his canes and this method ensured he had clean planting material to sustain cane production at Edgecumbe.

However, when asked if he could increase he said: “Yes and no. I try to have 450 acres in sugarcane every year. Edgecumbe is 804 acres of arable agriculture land so we might increase to 500 acres but I don’t think we would go beyond that for reaping.”

He explained that the plantation also specialises in producing other crops such as sweet potato.

Meanwhile, Gill said: “If things look economically sensible, we can go up three times more than what we are doing.”

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb