The El Nino condition has resulted in burnt cane plants as well as stunted growth due to “moisture stress” at the Blairmont Estate cultivation while the water level in the canal has dropped by one ft.
At present 100% of the water coming into the cultivation is being pumped – with 90% being used to flood the fields and 10% through gravity flow.
Three pumps have been installed after the water level in Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary/Agricultural-Development-Authority (MMA/ADA) link canal dropped.
Water is being pumped into the Blairmont main water intake at Vonbetter from the MMA high level link canal. The estate also had to block the water through a “stop-off” system to ensure there is an adequate amount.
The plants that have been stunted are 24-week old and from “younger cycle canes” and focus is being placed on providing proper irrigation for them.
On the other hand, the canes that have been burnt are older cycle cane and would be ready for harvesting in September. New canes have also been planted on a 75-hectare of land one week ago.
Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud visited the cultivation yesterday along with a team of officials including the Regional Director of the Berbice Estates, Jairam Petam and manager of the Blairmont Estate, Yudhisthira Mana and the media to examine the situation.
Persaud told the media that the condition has impacted on cost but the industry is making an effort to minimize loss and “would move quickly into a state of recovery seamlessly” and to “bounce back” at the end of the phenomenon.
He noted that lessons to reserve water have been learnt from past El Nino conditions and that there has been a “great degree of preparedness…”
However, he said the current phenomenon which is now in its eighth month is more acute in terms of the duration.
And with more acreage of different crops under cultivation the vulnerability is greater.
He said though that “as much as we have to prepare for extreme rainfall we have to prepare for extreme drought that we are dealing with today.”
The dry spell is expected to continue for another five weeks.
The water is critical in the canal for irrigation into the fields, cane transport and for the general operation of the factory.
At the moment, the low level is causing the cane-punts to graze at the bottom of the canal.
The estate is currently cultivating 5,808.1 hectares of cane and is also looking at bringing some 800 hectares of new land under cultivation shortly.
Meanwhile the Blairmont Estate is expected to benefit from a $2 billion upgrade over a three-year period. The minister pointed out that the total capital programme for Guysuco is about $10 billion with over $6 billion coming from Central Government support.
He said too that additional work would have to be done at the Skeldon Estate to continue some of the investments.
