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Morosity plagues start of sugar harvest
Two major events are marking the sugar sector. The representative of the European Union for Agriculture, Florence Van Houtte, is arriving in the country today to discuss sugar reform. In these circumstances, the sugar cane harvest, starting tomorrow, will not be as festive as usual. The more so as the bad weather conditions have left a bitter taste to producers.
The final decision of the EU concerning sugar reform – thus the decrease in the price of sugar imported from African Caribbean Pacific countries – will come on the 22nd of June. In this perspective, the EU has sent one of its representatives to Mauritius (as the latter is the representative for ACP countries) to discuss the best solution for all parties.
But the EU has already stated how hard it would be to satisfy the ACP and rumours are rife about a 42% drop, which would sound the death knell for ACP sugar producers. Hence, local authorities do not know if they can expect much from this meeting.
Flood effects
As for the cane harvest, the Chamber of Agriculture announced that it would be lower than last year. These first estimates for the season have been calculated following observations by the MSIRI, the sugar factories, the Farmers’ Service Corporation, the Sugar Insurance Fund Board, the Mauritius Sugar Authority and the ministry of Agriculture.
The harvest is expected not to go beyond 550,000 tons compared to 572,316 in 2004. This is mainly due to the bad weather conditions the country had to face until March. After a long rainy period, the tropical storm Hennie and the lack of a long sunny period didn’t help sugar canes to grow as they should.
However, the Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute (MSIRI) noted that the amount of sugar in the canes is practically the same as last year. This is in fact the result of a slow growth rate and the dry weather in April and May. So the harvest should not suffer too much from the bad weather conditions. But this shows how dependent the sugar cane harvests are on the weather. The new agricultural centre in Albion should help when it comes into operation with its new agricultural techniques…
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