Sugar, rice sectors severely impacted by heavy rainfall – Agri Minister

The recent heavy rainfall has impacted on residential areas as well as farmlands, and the sugar and rice sectors have suffered severely.
According to Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, these two industries have faced a number of setbacks which resulted in significant losses in production.
“The rice and sugar industries have been impacted seriously and the sugar areas in Region Six, particularly in Albion and Port Mourant, have been inundated. Therefore it has brought the crop to a halt, and given the rainy season, we will have to consider whether certain areas like Albion and so on, would have to bring the first crop to an end,” Dr. Ramsammy said.
Kaieteur News understands that in April, the sugar workers at the Albion Estate could only work for 12 days due to the downpours during that month.
“Almost half of the days were lost to the sugar industry because once it rains even a little bit, the activities at the back which includes cutting of cane, loading of cane stops. This means that the factory can’t grind and they were affected where more than 50 per cent of days in April were lost.”
It was noted that the rice farmers are impacted in Region Six mainly because of the late start of their first crop.