By Brianna Bennett
Sugar Industry Faces Delays Despite Progress, Says Minister Mai
So, while those confrontation tests are yielding positive results, Minister of Agriculture Jose Mai says the industry will likely have to wait an entire year to see vast improvements. That spells trouble for the next sugar crop, as biological threats to the industry multiply.
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
鈥淏ut we also hope to have positive results from what we are doing now. The cure for brining back the industry has to start now. We may not see results immediate this year, but next year we may start to see positive results. Right now we are only looking at controlling the fusarium fungus and we are now informed that it is not only fusarium. It is accompanied by other pathogens. Nematodes could be one of them, but we have sent samples for testing for nematodes. Fusarium is not working alone. It is a compliment. We know fusarium is one, stemborer is another one. We suspect nematodes but we have sent samples for testing. So yes the situation is serious.鈥