Over A Hundred Thousand Tons of Sugar Cane Lost This Year
While the two parties continue to negotiate to sign off on a commercial agreement, another issue this year was that there were significant losses from cane that remained in the field, or what is called stand-over cane. The numbers we’ve been given are around a hundred thousand tons of cane that will go to waste in the fields.
Olivia Carballo-Avilez, Cane Farmers’ Relations Manager, A.S.R./B.S.I.
“Last year we were at around one point two one million tons, so we’re short around fifty thousand tons from last year. Last year, as we are aware, only about twenty thousand to thirty thousand tons of stand-over cane was left. We had several challenges this year. We started late; we could have started on December twentieth. It is when the mill was ready and we were ready to go. We had challenges with weather issues. We had a stop for about fourteen days, which really you cannot take back. Those days are gone, so because of the finite time of a crop season, we have to wrap things up and start our repair season because after this, when the gates are closed, the whole mill is going to be taken down, repaired and then put back up in time for the next crop.”
Oscar Alonzo, C.E.O., B.S.C.F.A.
“It is unfair that farmers have to have their cane already tied into a manufacturer that is unable to grind that cane. Even though BSI has been boasting tremendous investments, these investments have not been going in the area that really benefits the cane farmers, which is the grinding rate.”