|| Glenn Requena
|| Photos Courtesy
The El Palmar Sugar Mill needs at least 135,000 liters of fuel to complete the harvest
The shortage of gasoline and diesel generated that the El Palmar Sugar Mill has paralyzed its milling in the harvest nuclei to transport the mature cane.
Carlos Celli, president of the Cañicultores Society of the Aragua state (Socaragua), specified that the fruit of 12 months of work is at risk due to the lack of fuel.
He indicated that currently only four private power plants work in the country, the other three work with fuel oil boilers.
However, they have had more pronounced problems than in El Palmar, where the boilers work with gas and bagasse.
He affirmed that El Central is refining raw sugars, but has stopped milling because the required amount of cane does not arrive, due to the lack of fuel to make it effective.
He said that these recurring failures make El Palmar not have continuity, so they decided to stop its operations.
“There are barely 160,000 tons harvested and at least 80,000 tons of sugarcane remain in the field, in addition to 45 days to carry out this work, since winter is approaching, making harvest impossible, causing production to be lost.”
Celli explained that after the harvest, the sugarcane requires maintenance, fertilization, cultivation, among others, to prepare for the next season.
He asserted that the producer sector carried out its work without bank financing, which is why they are concerned that the livelihood of their families is at risk due to the shortage of fuel.
“The El Palmar Power Plant requires a daily gandola of 135,000 liters, with that we can continue and successfully complete our harvest. If we could have the government’s help to provide us with this fuel, we would complete the production of food for the country, ”said the president of Socaragua.
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