Drought drying up crop

THE 2016 SUGAR CANE HARVEST has suffered a major blow from the drought conditions.

Chairman of the Barbados Sugar Industry Limited, Patrick Bethell, also estimated there will be a drastically reduced yield for the 2017 and 2018 harvests.

Bethell pointed out that the drought conditions actually began in 2014 and caused fewer crops to germinate.

He said this year the industry is expected to produce 85 000 tonnes of cane, a decrease from the previous yield which totalled more than 100 000 tonnes. Bethell, who also manages a 55-acre cane field, said he believed that the projected figure for 2016 was overly optimistic. 

“This [estimation] is based on certain assumptions; for example, we are hoping to get rain but it is not happening,” he said.

Please read the full story in today’s Sunday Sun, or in the eNATION edition.