SUGARCANE growers could be faced with serious issues if continuous rainfall affects the Western Division over the next few weeks.
Speaking to this newspaper, acting Sugar Cane Growers Council CEO Sundresh Chetty said while rainfall in the cane belt over the past two weeks has led to waterlogged farms, the issue could become serious if the wet weather continued for more than a month. "If cane fields are water-logged for more than a month, there will be some effect on crops," he said.
"The best advice we can offer farmers is that they must try to drain water out as soon as the weather clears. While this is difficult under the current conditions, we urge growers to make some effort to drain water out as soon as possible."
Continuous rainfall over the past two weeks has raised concerns among canegrowers with the 2013 crushing season just a little over two months away.
"Apart from the obvious concern of the effects of flooding on the cane crop if fields remain water-logged for a month or more, there are also the issues with cane field access and debris. These contribute to added costs to growers and it is in their best interest to try to lessen the problem by draining water as quickly as possible," he said.