Truckloads of sugar cane were being delivered to Portvale Sugar Factory from as early as 9 a.m. yesterday, as the 2018 crop made a belated start.
Manager at the Blowers, St James factory, Raphael O’Neal, said that some trucks were waiting to be weighed just before work commenced.
When a Daily Nation team visited, workers were busy helping truck drivers offload cane in the yard. By 1 p.m., weighbridge operators estimated that a total of 200 tonnes of cane had been delivered from the Carrington estates and Edgecumbe in St Philip, Drax Hall and The Mount in St George, Searles in Christ Church and the Hannah estates in St James.
At least of 2 500 tonnes of cane is required for grinding to begin.
In Andrews, St Joseph, Easy Hall Plantation manager Eustin Craigg was overseeing the mechanical cane cutting of his fields. He said he was dissatisfied with the late start and felt more could be done to improve the state of the industry.
Craigg, who has over 30 years’ experience in the industry, said canes should be cut when the sucrose content of the stalk was at its peak.
Although the roads were not busy with trailers and trucks yesterday, activity is expected to heighten today.
This was the second time in four years that harvesting and grinding of cane have begun in April.
Last year, the harvest started on Monday, February 6, and the previous year, on Monday, March 7. In 2015, the crop began on Tuesday, April 9, while in 2014 the date was Monday, March 17. (SB)
