THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE PICTURE on The Gleaner's front page of Tuesday, April 9, tells the tales of ills within the sugar industry.
Here is a man cutting a field of cane that will make no profit for the grower, will make no profit for the cutter, will make no profit for the loader, will make no profit for the trucker, will make no profit for the mill and by extension, no profit for the country.
Why?
The picture gave a general representation of sugar cane with the cane stools few and far between. It is most likely that the stalks of cane in the root are few in number, they are knarled, bent, twisted and are going to be high in fibre with a large population having a red rot down the centre.
Why is cane in such atrocious conditions?
Basically the large gaps and poor quality of the field has been created by very high mortality of the stools and poor nutrition resulting in the plants not thriving. The roots coming under attack from Fusarium Pithium, etc., are not able to do what the Almighty designed them to do, that is bring food, water and nutrients to the plant.
Without roots the cane needs to be fed and watered with 'a teaspoon every day' or will not thrive, as the cane has no roots to tap the reservoir of nutrients and water just below the surface.
Cane that does not thrive, produces no wealth for anyone.
Fix the root system, you will fix the problem.
I am, etc.,
Charles Gilpin-Hudson
Manager
Lloyds & Belmont Limited
Guanaboa Vale PO
St. Catherine
