The extended ‘El Nino’ period is having severe effects on cane cultivation across the sugar industry, particularly on the East Demerara Estates.
‘El Nino’ is a climatic system which influences climate worldwide.
It is characterised by irregular warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean in the warm phase and cooling of the Pacific Ocean in the cold phase with consequential shifts in atmospheric pressure and changes in the wind fields globally.
In the current warm phase of the Pacific Ocean, Guyana is experiencing drastically reduced rainfall.
It should be noted that Guyana had experienced a strikingly similar ‘El Nino’ phenomenon during the first cane crop of 1998.
The average rainfall figures for January, February, November and December across the sugar industry, from 1997 to 2008, were 244.7mm, 108.1mm, 92.9mm and 251.6 mm respectively.
In comparison, the corresponding figures for January and February 2010 were 48.5 mm and 44mm respectively and for November and December 2009 were 34.2 mm and 64.7mm respectively.
Hence, the November and December 2009 rainfall recorded was only 36.8 % and 25.4 % of the average for the corresponding months from 1997 – 2008.
Similarly, the January and February 2010 rainfall record was a mere 19.8% and 40.7 of the average for the corresponding months from 1997 – 2009.
The Demerara Estates source their water from the East and West Demerara Water Conservancies; whereas, the East Berbice Estates obtain their supplies from the Canje Creek.
Blairmont Estate obtains its water supply from the MMA Conservancy.
At the beginning of the crop in early February, the East and West Demerara Conservancies were bordering on their dead storage levels.
When the conservancies reach their dead storage, 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, evaporation from our thousands of kilometers of navigation and irrigation canals is in the order of a quarter of an inch per day.
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 East Berbice Estates are 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 is now forced to use pumps to source water from the MMA system.
Because of the extremely dry conditions, the sugar cane crop is generally under severe moisture stress and this is compounded by that fact that water supply from our main sources has dwindled.
Conservancies and rivers are at their lowest levels and saline water has moved very far upstream.
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, but August, September and October are normally among the driest months in the year. After we missed the seasonal November/ December rains, it was established with a high degree of certainty that the Industry would be experiencing an acute water shortage.
A water management meeting was held at the Blairmont Training Centre on January 12, 2010, to sensitise all Estates about the critical water situation and the need to maintain water management strategies. Experiences during the ‘El Nino’ phenomenon of 1997/1998 have been factored into.
Water Management Strategies adopted by GuySuCo to mitigate the adverse effects of ‘El Nino’ include the following:
Optimum Water Conservation Practices; Recirculation/Re-cycling of Water, Monitoring of Water Availability and Quality at Source; Close Monitoring of the Operation of Water Control Structures; Appropriate Harvesting Sequence; and Appropriate Crop Husbandry Practices.
Water Conservation Practices include 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 is closely monitored to ensure that adequate amounts of water are released to augment the supply of fresh water from  the Canje Creek for the East Berbice Region.
Check sluices and stop-offs are used to control water levels and water quality within the canal networks for irrigation and transport of cane punts.
Canes are harvested in sectionalised blocks to optimise and conserve on the use of water.
Water from canals within harvested blocks are 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.
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 utilised its fleet of mobile pumps and irrigators to sustain the supply of water required for the various operations across the industry.
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. Hence, canes within the front-lands cannot be irrigated at this 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 prev
ailing 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 Nino’ on sugar production for this year would not be fully known until the end of the second crop of 2010.