Cane harvest starts

The 2023 sugarcane harvest got off to a slow start today.

Reports from some private cane farmers indicated that the large blue trucks/bins, which transport several tonnes of cane to Portvale Sugar Factory in Blowers, St James, arrived at a number of plantations late and caused some delays.

Manager at Edgcumbe Plantation Richard Mayers said that his workers started cutting canes in Fire Hill, St George around 7 a.m. but the first blue bin arrived on site nearly an hour and a half later with the second one reaching the location at 11:20 a.m.

At Drax Hall Plantation in St George, manager Phillip Whitehead said he also had challenges getting the canes transported to the factory.

He said the first set of canes were cut around 8:30 a.m. and it took two hours for a blue bin to arrive.

A similar situation occurred at H&G Ltd, where workers started cutting at 7a.m. in a canefield in Andrews, St Joseph. The first bin arrived minutes to 11 a.m.

When a Barbados TODAY team visited the sugar factory, factory manager Marlon Munroe declined to speak to the media.

Calls to chief executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Management Company Orlanda Atherley went unanswered.

However, by 2 p.m. the factory was said to have received close to 200 tonnes of canes from about five planters. The first set of canes arrived at 11 a.m.

When contacted, chairman of the Barbados Sugar Industry Limited Mark Sealy promised to give a report of the day’s proceedings, but the information was not available up to the time of publication.

This year, it is expected that 5 229 tonnes of direct consumption sugar and 7 100 tonnes of molasses would be produced from 107 000 tonnes of cane.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb