Recently, we've been showing you how the Sugar Industry in the north has been slowly incorporating technology, and modern farming practices to try to improve their productivity and competitiveness.
Well, recently, the Sugar Industry Research and Development Institute has been working on trying to reduce the headaches that the farmers experience when they have to face heavy rains which disrupt the crop season.
They introduced a new system today, and they invited the media out to the Orange Walk District. Daniel Ortiz reports:
Daniel Ortiz reporting
It may look like this gentleman is out in the middle of a cane field having fun with a remote controlled plane. But actually, this is a drone, and he's working.
This drone is special, and its purpose is to help his company, the South African firm, Agri-Sense, conduct aerial surveys of the land in the Corozal and Orange Walk Districts which is mostly covered by sugar cane fields.
Marcos Osorio - Director, SIRDI "We are in an area between Guinea Grass and San Lazaro, known as Ridgemond Hill, and here we are about to start an interesting project for the Sugar Industry and the 2 northern districts of Belize. This project is titled land use management and we are about to start doing a Lidar survey, which is using one of the highest technologies, using laser to collect topographic data, which will be done in 900 square kilometers within the sugar belt."
That's a total of a little more than 347 square miles of cane country that the Agri-Sense team will be surveying, and it's actually the first phase of a drainage masterplan. The Sugar Industry Research and Development Institute (SIRDI) wants to help farmers deal with an acute problem that resurfaces every time there is excess rains in the north.
Marcos Osorio "The northern part of the country is known as general flat plains. Every time we get rains, you'll find water everywhere. So, this particular project aims - or the final result will be the design of a master drainage plan for the northern districts of Belize, particularly for the sugar industry, but it will impact across every sector within the sugar belt."
Excess water in cane fields results in no oxygen to the root system, and having no oxygen, then there is no growth. The issue of water-logging... in the northern part of the country, for the sugar industry, has resulted in more incidence of pest, lower yields and much inefficiency in the sugar industry.
(SIRDI) That point was driven home back in December of 2013, when the Sugar Crop for that year had to be delayed because of the excess rain which flooded the mature cane fields.
File: December 16, 2013
Leocaido Javier Keme, Cane Farmer "Obviously, these canes have been under stressed absorbing water from weeks I could say and even though you can see the cane has the height it looks as if it is ready, but if you test it, if will give you maybe 65%-70% of purity."
Marcos Osorio "It affects the cane field. It affects the land, and generally, it brings about a poor output of sugar to the mill. And it affects everyone within the sugar industry."
That's where this drainage master plan comes in. It will be designed to mitigate the damage to the sugar industry due to flooding.
So, what role do the drones in this? Well, they will help Agri-Sense complete the first phase of the master plan. This is the reconnaissance phase and these professionals are experts of technique called stereo photogrammetry. That is the science of making measurements from photographs.
Russell Longhurst - Managing Director, Agri-Sense International "We have ground controlled points which we've put. That's the ground team that's working in advanced of us. They've put down ground control points throughout the area, which we'll use to tie in the model. Those points are measured to an accuracy of 2 centimeters… Then the drone flies over, takes a picture of the marker. We know the position of the marker. We know the position of the drone, and then we can actually get the accurate elevation and tie all those points together to get a model. Our part in this whole thing is to develop an accurate elevation model, so that the engineers can design a drainage master plan on top of that."
They are in Belize for 30 days to cover about 15 square miles a day with the drones, until they've photographed the entire 347 square miles of territory that they've been contracted to do.
Russell Longhurst "We'll send the UAV's into the air, one then the next. And we'll be covering an area today, probably about 4,000 hectares of survey."
After that, there are several other phases, that will span months, but the end goal is to actually see this drainage masterplan become a reality.
The SIRDI director believes that this project will see improvements in areas other than agriculture.
Marcos Osorio "It will bring benefit, not only the sugar industry. It will benefit the road network infrastructure. It will benefit the communities that are prone to flooding. It will benefit tourism, and I think it will bring about major developments for the northern districts because water management is a big issue. It's something that we've not really done anything… So, we estimate, or the vision is that 20 years from today, the whole northern districts should be transformed."
As you heard in the story, this the very first phase of this drainage master plan. There are several steps that must take place before any actual construction takes place.
But, the survey team has been having some difficulties with some landowners in the survey area.
The Director of SIRDI told us that specifically in Ship Yard, the ground teams doing this survey have been encountering resistance setting up the mapping markers for the drone's flight path.
Some landowners don't want them entering their properties, and many were suspicious of the land survey for the sugar industry. He is asking the land owners within the 900 square kilometers to allow the men to do their jobs.
He assures them that this is not the Government trying to take anyone's land away. He insists that this water drainage system for the sugar industry will ameliorate flooding problems in the parts of the Orange Walk and Corozal Districts where the system is installed.
Sugar Cane varieties and their role in sugar quality
There are other factors at play when it comes to sugar cane quality. One of those is sugar cane varieties. Presently, farmers manage a few of these, but a majority is growing one particular type of sugar cane. While this is considered a good variety, being able to endure weather changes for the most part, it is posing some challenges. BSI on the other hand has been growing another variety that has helped it to top the results of the quality testing. Regel Cal, Cane Farmer Relation Officer explains.
Regel Cal, Cane Farmer Relation Officer:“BSI has plenty of varieties which start to harvest as the crop starts in December they start to harvest these cane and these are high in sugar at that time. So while most farmers have the B79 which is a mid to late variety at this time in December January the B79 �tends to have a lot of water so whenever the farmers are taking their cane they are not taking quality cane unlike BSI.”
It would seem that the cane variety that matures early in the crop would be the way to go for all farmers. Adrian Zetina, Research and Development Chief says not so. As is, he says, too many farmers are growing the B79 variety.
Regel Cal, Cane Farmer Relation Officer:�"Variety plays a very big role in the maturity of the cane, there are some cane that mature earlier which we call early maturing varieties, there are some cane that mature in the mid season, about now which is the mid maturing variety and then we have the late maturing varieties. This is precisely why we use this type of equipment. If we have two or three varieties that are mid maturing and we are not sure which one is the ripest we can bring them in an compare at what point it is in its maturity."
Reporter: Can you state what is the majority, or what type of variety are most farmers bringing in?
Regel Cal, Cane Farmer Relation Officer:"Most farmers are bringing in B79 474 which is a very good variety, there is just one issue with it in that we just have too much of it, it’s covering about 55% of the surface area that we have right now. That presents us with two problems, that presents us with A, we can’t harvest all of the crop 55% of it because it is a mid maturing variety in March/April that is impossible we just cannot do that. It also presents a bigger problem being that it is a very big disease risk if a disease is to enter and B79 is particularly susceptible to it almost half of the industry is gone. That is what we do here in BSI, we focus a lot on variety development and we are seeing a lot of very good varieties coming out. What we want and encourage farmers to do is try new varieties to begin to replace B79."
DC Sugar production can help minimize impact of lowering global sugar prices
BSI has begun production of Direct Consumption Sugar at the start of the 2017/2018 sugar crop. Production continues and as stated by Avilez, its production is seen by the company as the way to go under the current strains being faced by the industry. Given the lowering global market prices, which does impact the payments to farmers, we asked Avilez whether the production of DC Sugars will help cushion the impact on payments.
Olivia Avilez, Cane Farmers Relations Officer:“Most certainly we are looking at direct consumption sugar production. Demerara sugar production as a priority for every thousand tons of Demerara that we produce we are able to improve the cane price by 25 cents so that's a figure for this year it's not for every year but based on the prices that we have so far for every one thousand tons of Demerara that we produce above the twelve thousand that we have reported we can improve it by 25 cents so everybody is monitoring what Demerara will look like but again Demerara it is produced a little slower and with better quality so it requires more time therefore sometimes milling rate decreases if we are able to manage the part of the investment that was projected for the 18 months in this year then we are able to do a little bit more.”
BSI demonstrates the "Sweet Sampling" process
The Belize Sugar Industry held a Pre-Harvest Sugar Cane Quality Testing Program Demonstration for the media in Orange Walk this morning. The demonstration highlighted the "Sweet Sampling for Sweeter Returns" project, which monitors sugar cane quality.The program came about after farmers questioned BSI as to how they improved their sugar cane quality. The questions arose after farmers started delivering some of the best quality sugar cane to the mill. BSI wrote a project to help the farmers and obtained a majority of the funding from the Hershey Company.� The objective of the program is to help farmers deliver the sugar cane with the highest quality and in so doing obtain maximum yields from their crop. This then translates to better cane payments for farmers. So how does it work? Dalila Ical has the details.
Earlier in the news, we told you how world sugar prices are currently down by as much as half of last year's prices.
The world market is saturated with sugar, so the prices may dip lower as a result.
But, those within the local sugar industry are trying to adapt to the stiff competition by improving their farming techniques, and reducing production costs.
One such initiative is being led by BSI/ASR, and the Sugar Cane Production Committee, with funding from the American chocolate company, Hershey, through its Learn to Grow Program.
The initiative is simply to maximize the quality of the cane being delivered to the mill by ensuring that the crop is at its peak maturity and purity. It's called Sweet Sampling for Sweet Returns, and it's been running for just over 6 months. BSI invited the press to see how it is already yielding big results for the sugar cane farmers who've signed up. Daniel Ortiz reports:
Olivia Avilez - Cane Farmer Relations, BSI "This program really is to showcase and transfer some of the techniques and technologies that we are using in our farms to farmers, so that they are able to have the opportunity to develop their cane quality as well."
Daniel Ortiz reporting
For this demonstration on how this new sampling technique works, the Cane Farmer Relations Field Officers took the press to a cane field in an area outside of Orange Walk Town called "Ramonal".
Regel Cal - Cane Farmer Relations, BSI "This field belongs to Mr. Octavio Cowo. What we do, we approach the farmer, the reaping group leader and he indicates to us which fields he intends to harvest within 3 weeks. So we do testing like 6-7 fields at a time. So by that when he gets his results he can do a calendar of harvesting according to the results."
This cane sampling program is tied to another initiative between BSI and the Sugar Cane Production Committee. The extensive mapping of all the cane fields in the north under the Sugar Industry Management Information System, SIMIS, allows these field officers to be able to choose 5 to 10-acre plots on the cane fields to test. It is carefully monitored with GPS equipment.
Russel Navarro - Cane Farmer Relations, BSI "We have a GPS where it shows the map of the cane farmers. So we have a system that has mapped almost all the cane parcels in the sugar industry and the parcels are given a unique number. So no number repeats itself. Once we have the parcel number, we enter the field at the mid-section. We guide ourselves with the GPS, because it shows our position and then we enter in and the person that do the cutting enters the field and take out the sample."
Once the cane samples have been carefully labelled, they are transported to BSI's spectra-cane laboratory for analysis.
Jamilet Minero - Lab Tech, BSI "Usually the branches that they brought in usually are like 10 stalks. We put it in the shredder and the machine which is the spectrecane is an IRI system - infra red light. This system will we do moisture, fiber, brick in cane - give you purity and based on this results we can passed it on to the farmers and help them have a very good harvesting schedule. To help them bring in as much sugarcane delivery to the factory. The machine is subdivided into 3 conveyors; the deliver conveyor, the presentation conveyor where the actual reading is done. Then we have the disposal conveyor. It is all controlled by one PLC and right there I input the data, the guy loads it, I press go and the machine does all the work. When it done, I run the quad which I can show you guys as well and I prepare the report."
Adrian Zetina - Research & Development Chief, BSI "It gives us bricks which is the total dissolve solids. So this includes sugar which is the majority component of the bricks. It also includes salts, proteins and any other of these solids that we have in the juice. POL is the exclusively the sucrose that is in the juice. So using these 2 parameters you have POL and you divide by bricks and that will give us the purity. As a standard the industry has that we will accept 81% purity. The cane needs to be at 81%. If it falls below that then it cannot be accepted at the mill."
The tests sound highly technical, but the data is helpful to the cane farmers in making an effective harvesting plan.
Once the results from the spectra-cane tests are in, it's the job of Vasni Pech, to make that data easily understandable and accessible to farmers.
And he makes it as simple as possible. The plots are identified on a map, and color coded to tell the reaping group leaders where to cut, and which plot of cane to leave alone. Green means that this plot is ready to harvest right now. Yellow tells the farmer to leave that part of the cane field for about 2 more weeks. Finally, red means that cutting this cane is a no-no. It's too young and needs more time to mature and ripen.
Vasni Pech - GIS Technician, BSI "We use the graphic information system to develop that report and we correlate the laboratory information with the field data collected from the field officers. We have a field ID where we correlate with the laboratory and the field and we have 3 categories we use which are the if the field have a purity less than 81% is red, which means that it cannot be harvest at the moment. Also we have a category of 81-83% which is yellow, which means that that field can be harvested within 2 weeks and also the 3rd category is over 83% where that field can be harvested immediately if the farmer wants. A printed report is given to them with also the map color coded showing them that the results given from the laboratory."
Adrian Zetina "The information that we get, the farmers can know which fields have exactly what purity. So field A will have 85.6% purity, field B would have 88.9% purity. The farmer will want to go into the field that has a higher purity."
One farmer who we met today is convinced that this is a progressive step to help farmers get the most out of their investment.
Jose Luis Cowo - Cane Farmer, PSCPA "Depending on the length of the month, regularly about 12 months, we thought it was at a good maturity. But now using the test we could determine much better accuracy."
Reporter "Would you recommend this to other cane farmers? Would you recommend them to become a part of this program?"
Jose Luis Cowo "Definitely, because we need to understand that all the cane farmers work hard and we need to get better on business of cane."
Adrian Zetina "We've seen some very good quality of cane that has been coming in. Farmers tend to peak around March/April of this time. So all the cane that they are bringing in right now is about 89, 90, 91% purity with very low moisture. So all the cane out there is ready to go."
To also ease the pain of these current low world prices for raw sugar, BSI/ASR is looking into increasing the production of direct consumption sugars. These value added products sell on the market for about 42% more than raw sugar.
ASR/BSI has to make a 22 million-dollar investment to make the increase in production of direct consumption sugars a reality. The company is hoping to make part of that investment this year.
Does anyone know of any other Maya village in Toledo that produce their own local sugar from organic sugar cane? I was able to still find one in my home village of San Jose Hawaii when I was there in July of last year. This is my old primary school classmate Casimiro. Proud of the man still keeping tradition alive. Daniel Cho
The opinions and views expressed on this board are the subjective opinions of Ambergris Caye Message Board members and not of the Ambergris Caye Message Board its affiliates, or its employees.
AmbergrisCaye.com 
Recently, we've been showing you how the Sugar Industry in the north has been slowly incorporating technology, and modern farming practices to try to improve their productivity and competitiveness.
Marcos Osorio - Director, SIRDI
"We have ground controlled points which we've put. That's the ground team that's working in advanced of us. They've put down ground control points throughout the area, which we'll use to tie in the model. Those points are measured to an accuracy of 2 centimeters… Then the drone flies over, takes a picture of the marker. We know the position of the marker. We know the position of the drone, and then we can actually get the accurate elevation and tie all those points together to get a model. Our part in this whole thing is to develop an accurate elevation model, so that the engineers can design a drainage master plan on top of that."
Earlier in the news, we told you how world sugar prices are currently down by as much as half of last year's prices.
"This program really is to showcase and transfer some of the techniques and technologies that we are using in our farms to farmers, so that they are able to have the opportunity to develop their cane quality as well."
"This field belongs to Mr. Octavio Cowo. What we do, we approach the farmer, the reaping group leader and he indicates to us which fields he intends to harvest within 3 weeks. So we do testing like 6-7 fields at a time. So by that when he gets his results he can do a calendar of harvesting according to the results."
"We have a GPS where it shows the map of the cane farmers. So we have a system that has mapped almost all the cane parcels in the sugar industry and the parcels are given a unique number. So no number repeats itself. Once we have the parcel number, we enter the field at the mid-section. We guide ourselves with the GPS, because it shows our position and then we enter in and the person that do the cutting enters the field and take out the sample."
Jamilet Minero - Lab Tech, BSI
The tests sound highly technical, but the data is helpful to the cane farmers in making an effective harvesting plan.
red, which means that it cannot be harvest at the moment. Also we have a category of 81-83% which is yellow, which means that that field can be harvested within 2 weeks and also the 3rd category is over 83% where that field can be harvested immediately if the farmer wants. A printed report is given to them with also the map color coded showing them that the results given from the laboratory."
Reporter
