Harsh ‘El Niño’ forces GuySuCo to drastically slash planting

Mar 12, 2010 News

– stunted cane growth highly evident in Demerara

The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has warned that the extended ‘El Niño’ period is severely affecting cane cultivation across the industry, particularly on the East Demerara Estates.
GuySuCo, in a statement issued yesterday, disclosed that extremely dry conditions have placed the sugar cane crop under severe moisture stress and this is compounded by the fact that the water supply from its main sources have dwindled.
Conservancies and rivers are at their lowest levels and there is evidence that the water salinity has moved very far upstream.
According to GuySuCo, at the beginning of the crop in early February, the East and West Demerara Conservancies were bordering on their dead storage levels. When that happens, water can only be obtained from them by the use of pumps.
For the East Demerara Estates in particular, apart from the negligible rainfall during the months of January and February 2010; thousands of kilometers of navigation and irrigation canals have seen water being evaporated at a rate of a quarter of an inch per day.
Dwindling sources

Recirculation of water from Sideline Drain by a tractor driven pump to irrigate a canefield at Uitvlugt Estate.

“Evaporation losses alone across the Industry from November 2009 to present would amount to millions of gallons/tons of water. The industry is suffering from an enormous deficit of soil moisture for our sugar cane crop on the East Demerara Estates,” the Corporation revealed.
The East Berbice Estates are reportedly in a better position because they can still source adequate supplies via large fixed pumps from the Canje Creek.
Blairmont Estate initially received water by gravity flow from the MMA conservancy, but it is now forced to use pumps to source water from the MMA system.
“On the Enmore, LBI, Wales and Uitvlugt Estates, stunted cane growth can be observed in some fields in which canes have turned pale yellow. Stunted cane growth can also be observed within the front portion of the Rose Hall Estate, due to a deficit in soil moisture; while the water in the navigation/irrigation canals are so saline, it cannot be used for irrigation purposes.”
The dry spell started in August 2009.
GuySuCo noted that August, September and October are normally among the driest months in the year, but it was after the country missed the seasonal November/ December rains, that it was established with a high degree of certainty that the industry would be experiencing an acute water shortage.
GuySuCo said that a water management meeting was held at the Blairmont Training Centre on January 12 to sensitize all estates about the critical water situation and the need to maintain water management strategies. The experiences during the ‘El Niño’ Phenomenon of 1997/1998 have been factored into the planning.
Some of the water management strategies adopted then by GuySuCo to mitigate the adverse effects of ‘El Niño’ included recirculation/recycling, monitoring of availability and quality at source, close monitoring of the operation of water control structures and appropriate harvesting sequence.
Measures
Some of the measures taken also included recirculation of water from the drainage system into navigation canals for cane transport and irrigation.
“Sluice gates are locked and secured to prevent intrusion of salt water. Daily water quality monitoring is done in areas where pumps are used for water supply and recirculation of water.
The operation of the gates on the Torani canal are closely monitored to ensure that adequate amounts of water are released to augment the supply of fresh water down the Canje Creek for the East Berbice Region.”
Check sluices and stop-offs are also being used to control water levels and water quality within the canal networks for irrigation and transport of cane punts. Canes are being harvested in sectionalized blocks to optimize and conserve on the use of water. Water from canals within harvested blocks are also being released and pumped out into canals within blocks which are to be subsequently harvested.
“The National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) also took positive actions, as soon as it was firmly established that the dry period would be prolonged. Pumps were deployed at Maduni to pump water from the Mahaica Creek into the East Demerara Conservancy and at Waramia to deliver water from Bonasika Creek into the West Demerara Conservancy.”
The Corporation said that pumps were also deployed to other parts of the country by the NDIA to mitigate the effects of the dry spell. The MMA had also put water conservation measures in place at an early stage.
“In addition, the NDIA has released a number of mobile pumps to GuySuCo to divert water into our navigation and factory supply systems for the transport and processing of sugar cane. The industry has also utilized our fleet of mobile pumps and irrigators to sustain the supply of water required for the various operations across the industry.”
According to GuySuCo, tractor-driven pumps were also hired to re-circulate water from the drainage system into the irrigation system.
“It must be noted that GuySuCo also has large fixed pumps, which are used to re-circulate water from the drainage system into our navigation system across the industry. However, after several cycles of recirculation during the current dry spell, the water quality has deteriorated and particularly in the front-lands, the water within the navigation system cannot be used for irrigation.”
Planting reduced
Canes within the front-lands cannot be irrigated at this point in time. As a consequence, all of the Demerara Estates have had to cut back on their re-planting programme.
“The industry has had to confine irrigation to plant canes for germination and to plant canes two to seven months old, which are in their boom growing period. Because of water unavailability and issues regarding quality, and also partly due to the unavailability of sufficient mobile pumps, ratoon canes cannot be irrigated at the current time.
These canes would be dependent on rainfall when it eventually arrives. It is said that the May/June rains have never failed, even if it arrives a little late.”
With careful management of the available water resources and with assistance from the NDIA, the Estates have so far managed to keep their punts afloat for cane transport and to keep their factories grinding during the first crop of 2010.
They have also managed to plant and irrigate an appreciable amount of new canes under the prevailing circumstances.
“The industry will continue to put into practice the water management strategies, which it had worked out to successfully carry it through the first crop of 2010.
However, the full effects of the ‘El Niño’ on sugar production for this year would not be fully known until the end of the second crop of 2010.”