THE Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) on Tuesday urged stakeholders in the sugarcane industry to gear up for the looming impact of El Niño, expected to intensify starting this month and last until early next year.
SRA Administrator Ma. Regina Martin said sugarcane is a resilient crop. However, she said, sugar farmers and millers should still prepare for the weather phenomenon as it will certainly affect the next cropping season.
“In the absence of irrigation, this will again result in poor germination for the plant cane and lower stool survival for the ratoon cane,” the SRA said in a statement.
The SRA added that insufficient soil moisture will also decrease tillering capacity and hinder stalk elongation, resulting in lower cane and sugar production to affected farms.
“Last crop year the canes established for early planting in October and November of 2014 succumbed to the dry spell at the start of 2015, with poor tillering and leaf drying. More affected were those in the mid- and late planting with poor germination and tillering. The effect for all cane plants was evident with the poor stalk growth, as shown from the shorter internodes,” Martin said.
Martin said now that the 2015 to 2016 milling season has started with El Niño in effect, the canes for early milling will be favored in terms of higher tonnage.
“However, canes for mid- and late milling will certainly decrease their tonnage, with faster sugar-quality deterioration during the extremely dry and hot conditions. These will all result to lower cane and sugar yields,” Martin said.
By October, the sugarcane farms of Tarlac and Cavite will already experience the dry spell, while those in Pampanga, Batangas, Iloilo and Cagayan will have dry condition. Isabela will experience drought, the SRA said.
The agency said that by December, the whole of the Visayas will already be suffering from the dry spell, while Iloilo will already have drought. The dry spell will affect Batangas, Cagayan, Camarines Sur, Cotabato and Davao, while Bukidnon will be very dry, with no or very little rain.
“In March and April 2016, the entire Sugarlandia will experience drought, except for Bukidnon, which will be under a dry condition,” the SRA said.
The SRA, together with the sugarcane industry stakeholders, earlier came up with an action plan to mitigate the effects of El Niño. These include cloud seeding, shallow-tube wells (STW), field irrigation and drainage canals, installation of rain- collection and water-impounding lagoons, increased propagation and distribution of drought-resistant varieties.
“Since then, the SRA has been coordinating with concerned government agencies for the implementation of these programs, such as the local government units for cloud seeding, the National Irrigation Administration for irrigation, Bureau of Soils and Water Management and National Water Resources Board for the STW,” the SRA said.