How Will Sugar Cane Fungal Infection Impact Next Year’s Crop?

On Wednesday, we reported on a rapidly spreading fungal infection affecting sugar cane in Northern Belize. This infection causes the cane to yellow and wilt. While some cane varieties show resistance, over sixty percent of Belize’s sugar cane varieties are vulnerable and likely to perish upon exposure. It’s estimated that the infection has ravaged about three-fourths of the Corozal District in the past month. With the record-breaking sugar price announced on Monday, we spoke with Shawn Chavarria, Director of Finance at Belize Sugar Industries, to understand the potential impact on next year’s crop. Here’s more on that.

 

Shawn Chavarria, Director of Finance, ASR/BSI

“That’s something that we’re still working with stakeholders. A task force has been created. With all the different stakeholders, including BAHA, CARDI everyone’s giving it its full support, given the sense of urgency behind this. We’re trying to assist in bringing experts who experts are in soil nutrition and also disease. So we’re trying to help with that. The key is to try to find out the strain, or the genus of this disease, and once we know that, then we are able to make recommendations to farmers on what is the control measures that need to be put in place, what biological control or formulas they need to do. And so that is the step that we’re currently doing. We’re gathering the samples to send them abroad to do that analysis so that we can then make technical recommendations to farmers to implement these measures. Because this is something that is really concerning at this point. The initial feedback is that this is being seen across the border as well. So it’s not something that’s just affecting our industry, but we need to ensure that we, as much as possible, try to minimize its spread. I think they still need to go and do that validation of how much fields are actually affected. And so I know right now SIRDI on feel officers from all the different stakeholders are trying to do that going assessment. But at this point, we still don’t have all the information. We do know that it does impact the growth, the quality reduces. And so what you will see is lower yields. Some fields could be lost, but until that validation is completed, we really don’t know exactly what is going to be the impact next.”