The ongoing El Niño weather phenomenon is affecting the operations of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) with the reducing water levels making irrigation difficult on several estates.

The sugar corporation in a release issued yesterday said that “over the past seven months, the dry spell has increasingly affected the operations of the Guyana Sugar Corporation. Availability of water has been hindered by the dwindling levels of the canals, rivers and conservancies, the industry relies on to irrigate the estates,” the release said.

According to GuySuCo, the estates most badly affected are those on the East Coast Demerara.

The release stated that the estates at Enmore and LBI rely on the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) for their source of water and the conservancy is currently “at its dead storage level”.

The release said that the main areas affected across the industry are “cane transport, replanting and irrigation of planted canes.” GuySuCo explained that “while the current weather is ideal for tillage, this has been restricted “since in order to till and maintain adequate cane cultivation,” planting has to be done at the same time.

“All estates, which are currently grinding have been sectionalizing areas for cane harvest where possible, so as to ensure an adequate level of water to transport punts to the factories,” the release said.

Meanwhile, in an effort to counteract the impact of the weather, the corporation has been collaborating with stakeholder agencies such as the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and the Mahaica-Mahaicony- Abary/Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA).

GuySuCo said in the release that its “drainage and irrigation resources are being reshuffled based on the urgency of individual estates, which are constantly being monitored”.