AS the world celebrated International Rum Day on August 16, at least one distillery on the island is highlighting that more sugar cane is needed for production.

Managing director at Worthy Park Estate Gordon Clarke told journalists that “right now I want more cane”.

Sugar cane is used to produce more than just sugar. Heat and natural yeasts cause the juice in the cane stalk to ferment spontaneously and turn it into an alcoholic beverage.

Of the over 10,000 acres of land at the Worthy Park Estate, approximately 40 per cent of land is currently in sugar cultivation. There are as many as 20 cane varieties growing; however, most acreage is utilised for the top-performing variety.

Approximately 240,000 tonnes of cane are milled annually. Upwards of 160,000 tonnes are supplied by Worthy Park and its satellite farms with the supply supplemented by purchases from local farmers.

Clarke said that sales this year went up by 63 per cent, noting the company has been more profitable this year than any previous year.

But he also disclosed that it still isn’t enough.

“Right now, I want more cane. We actually crushed 262,000 tonnes of cane this year and we’ve beat that figure three times over before, but we need more,” said Clarke.

While Clarke is yearning for more sugar cane, the Government has signalled its intention to put idle sugar lands into productive use.

When quizzed about whether the Government is aware of the need, Clarke said he is in dialogue with the Government regarding the situation.

He said “up to two weeks ago I went up to a 2,500-acre farm in Clarendon; it’s a little bit far but we had a look at it”.

He stressed that leasing lands that are too far could place undue pressure on operational expenses.

“The cane lands have to be close enough to Worthy Park because the cost of haulage will soon overtake the cost of the cane. We have cane coming from South St Catherine, Clarendon and Trelawny and we have bought land up to a year-and-a-half ago. We operate seven large farms outside of Worthy Park; we’re still leasing lands at Caymanas and we’re constantly looking for more land and more production in terms of yield per hectares,” Clarke stated.

In the same vein, he highlighted that “we need to make sure what the Government’s policy is on the sugar industry as well because for us to spend three or four hundred million dollars developing a new farm, we need some assurance that the market won’t be flooded with imports”.

Similarly, he admitted “it would only make sense if we can get cane from it [leased lands] for at least five to seven years.”

Nevertheless, he stressed that although the sugar industry has been downsized, “the two remaining sugar factories, Worthy Park and Frome, can make sugar for the local market which is a good market for us to sell into”.

The sugar season lasts from January through to the end of June.

Since it is a 24-hour operation in-season, the other months of the year are dedicated to a complete servicing of all the equipment in the sugar factory and farm, and taking care of the cane fields.

While the traditional and preferred method of harvesting cane is by hand, for the past 20 years Worthy Park has also used combine cane harvesters to assist in the daily supply of cane to the sugar factory.