Belize Citrus Growers Association. Report of damage by Hurricane Richard to the Citrus Industry of Belize By Luis G.Tzul

Transcription

1 Belize Citrus Growers Association Report of damage by Hurricane Richard to the Citrus Industry of Belize By Luis G.Tzul Date: November 3, 2010

2 Table of Contents 1. The Belize Citrus Industry background 2. Contribution of the Citrus Industry to the economy of Belize. 3. Citrus Industry Statistics. 4. Impact of Hurricane Richard and affected area (map) 5. Damage assessment 6. Fruit salvage initiative 7. Effect of damage of Citrus Industry to the Belize economy 8. Post Richard Outlook for Industry

3 The Belize Citrus Industry Background The prosperity of the Stann Creek valley was founded on bananas. The decline in banana production started in 1917 as a result of the Panama disease. Banana planting spread further up the valley in search of disease free land but in 1937 the ravages of Panama disease and Cercospora leaf spot finally killed the industry. During the period in which the Banana Industry was declining experiments with trial planting of citrus were very successful and ushered in the beginning of the Citrus Industry. In 1913 the first grafted citrus trees were imported Florida, and planted by Dr. S.O. Brown, Mr. W.A.J. Bowman and Mr. Alfred E. Vine, manager of the British Honduras Syndicate. In 1924, Mr. Alfred E. Vine sold his holdings now known as Pomona to the Government of British Honduras for the establishment of a Boy s School. A Board of Management was appointed for the Industrial School with Mr. Douglas Jones, the then Colonial Secretary as Chairman and Mr. W.A.J. Bowman as one of the members. A policy to increase the size of the Citrus Orchard was formulated and a nursery established for the sale of budded citrus trees to the planters. This policy led to a further expansion of the industry. Exhibits were sent to the Imperial Fruit Show and in 1928, the Industrial School won the gold and silver medals at the fruit show held at Manchester, England. Around 1931, the reputation of British Honduras grapefruit was established and the Honorable G.G.R. Sharp of Jamaica visited British Honduras and was very much impressed with what he saw of the citrus industry and its great possibilities. Mr. Sharp purchased the area of land known as Middlesex which was then a government forest reserve and planted grapefruit trees quite extensively on the area. A citrus nursery was established at Middlesex by the Sharp brothers. As Middlesex and other orchards came into bearing, private enterprise took over the marketing of citrus fruits. The citrus industry had grown from fifteen acres in 1913 to eight hundred and fifty acres in The Citrus Company of British Honduras was established at Middlesex in Stann Creek in 1933; it was transferred to Pomona in The canning of grapefruit and orange juice was started in Stann Creek in The first grapefruit section in tins was processed on an oil stove and the output was 5 cases per day. The Citrus Company of British Honduras Ltd. first opened its citrus processing operations in 1948 under the ownership of the Sharp brothers from Jamaica. In 1983, Sharp sold his interest to Belizean and Trinidadian interest. In December 1998, the company was sold to the Common Wealth Development Corporation of England. In 1963, Salada Food Products Ltd. under the ownership of Salada Foods of Canada, bought over Alta Vista Factory from the Commonwealth Development Corporation of England. In 1969, Kellog of Battle Creek Michigan, USA acquired the company. The company continued to operate under this new management up to 1979 when it was acquired by Nestle S.A. of Switzerland and renamed Belize Food Products Ltd.

4 In 1990, Nestle transferred ownership to a group of Belizean citrus growers, employees and Belize Holdings Inc. (25%). The company was sold in August 1999 to the Commonwealth Development Corporation of England. The Commonwealth Development Corporation consolidated the two citrus operations into one company, Del Oro Belize Ltd. In February 2000, the Belize Citrus Growers Association Investment Company Limited (BCGAICL) acquired 10% of the shareholdings of Del Oro Belize Ltd. On October 9,2002, the Belize Citrus Growers Association Investment Company Limited acquired an additional 89.78% of CDC s shareholdings in Del Oro Belize Ltd and changed the name to Citrus Products of Belize Ltd on December On December 2006, Banks Holdings Limited of Barbados acquired 41.93% of the shares in Citrus Products of Belize Limited and Blue Waters Limited of Trinidad acquired 4.6% of the shareholdings of the company. Today the industry is comprised of over 43,000 acres of citrus groves and five processing facilities (Citrus Company Belize 1948), Belize Food Products Limited (1963), Valley Manufacturing Company Limited (1986), Top Juice Limited (1996) and Citrus Cogeneration Limited (2005). In 2008 a new company was added this was named Belize Citrus Feeds Limited. Contribution of Citrus to Belizean Economy The Citrus Industry is now one of the most important industries in Belize. It is the leading earner of foreign exchange in the agri-business sector of Belize s economy. The area dedicated to production of citrus is estimated to be 43,000 acres. These are planted out in the Toledo, Stann Creek, Cayo, Belize districts and one farm in the Orange Walk district. Citrus earned$90.4m in 2007/08 (Table 1) and $73.9M in 2008/09 and an estimated $115m in 2009/2010. Table 1. Belize Domestic exports. ($M Bz) $M (Bz) Traditional Exports 2004_ _ _ _ _09 Citrus juices Sugar Molasses Banana Papaya Sources: Central Statistical Of f ice, BSI, CPBL, Central Bank of Belize

5 A total of 491 farms made up the producer component of the industry in The industry employs approximately 1,074 persons at the factory of which 218 were permanent positions and 856 temporary workers. On the farms some 2,352 persons are employed with 807 being permanent and 1545 being temporary or seasonal labor used in cleaning and harvesting of the fruit. The factory has the capacity to process up to 10M - 11M boxes of citrus fruit per crop but the production side has achieved at most 7.8 million boxes in 2004/05 crop. Table 2. Citrus delivery to the factory 2007 to Fruit Processed Orange Crop Year (90lb boxes) Grapefruit (80lb boxes) Total (boxes) 07/08 5,661,295 1,440,893 7,102,188 08/09 5,519,620 1,124,231 6,643,851 09/10 3,851,429 1,389,753 5,241,182 Table 3. Acreage by District 2009 District Orange acres Grapefruit acres Total Belize Cayo ,491 Stann Creek ,168 Toledo Orange Walk Total 36, ,506 The Stann Creek district has the largest amount of acres planted. There are 19,904 acres of oranges and 5,264 acres of grapefruit planted. The other district with the second largest acreage planted is the Cayo district. The Orange Walk district only has one citrus farm which is Yalbac Ranch Ltd. There is another farm in the Orange walk district that produces lime for the fresh fruit export market. In terms of delivery the Stann Creek district has the most delivery with some 3,069,611 boxes of oranges and 850,372 boxes of grapefruit in Table 4. Delivery of citrus by district 2009 District Orange cxs Grapefruit cxs Total cxs Belize 412,021 5, ,213 Cayo 1,626, ,202 1,892,063 Stann Creek 3,069, ,372 3,919,983 Toledo 391,518 1, ,642 Orange Walk 19,609 2,341 21,950

6 Figure 1. Citrus Processed in Belize Orange (90 lb boxes) Grapefruit (80 lb boxes) (Millions) 5 4 Boxes /84/85/86/87/88/89/90/91/92/93/94/95/96/97/98/99/00/01/02/03/04/05/06/07/08/09 Major plantings in the early 1990 allowed production to reach 5.0M boxes in the 1999 crop year and that level of production has continued to date. Production peaked in 2004/05 with 7.8M boxes of citrus being delivered to the factory. (see Figure 1) Citrus production mainly of oranges and grapefruit occurs predominantly in the Stann Creek, Cayo, Toledo and Belize districts. Belize exports its citrus products to the Caribbean, United States, Europe and Japan. The products exported are concentrates, not from concentrate, oils and pulp cells. Citrus Industry Statistics Crop Year A variety of rootstocks are used in the industry. The recommended rootstocks for tolerance to Citrus Tristeza Virus (CTV) are Cleopatra mandarin, and Volkameriana lemon. There is need for more diverse rootstock that is tolerant to CTV and to variation of soils in Belize. The distribution of rootstocks for the Industry is shown in Figure 2. The rootstock sour orange still occupies 25% of the industry even though it is susceptible to Citrus Tristeza Virus. The other rootstocks that are tolerant to CTV are Cleopatra mandarin with 28% and Carrizo with 22%. The rootstock Carrizo is susceptible to Citrus Exocortis. The sour orange rootstock is susceptible to Citrus Tristeza virus. There is some new rootstock in trials at Barton Creek Farms and Sibun River Valley Citrus Ltd. They are being evaluated and have not been released to farmers. The industry also has different age groups for groves. The older mature trees over 15 years give the best quality juice. The different age groups of groves and their distribution in the Industry is shown in Figure 3.

7 Figure 2. Citrus rootstock distribution in Belize Citrus Industry. The Industry has 57.8% of its groves under the age of 20 years. Another 23.9% consists of groves that are 21 to 24 years old. Groves that are more than 25 years old make up 18.3%. The recommended replanting rate is 5% per annum this would give us a grove replacement every 20 years. This replacement program is very important now that Citrus Greening is present in Belize. Figure 3. Age of Groves in Belize Citrus Industry (2008)

8 Impact of Hurricane Richard Richard, a strong category 1 hurricane pummeled central and southern Belize for 8 hours on Sunday evening of October 24, 2010 with winds up to 90 miles per hour and heavy rains that lasted only for the duration of the storm. The hurricane caused blackouts, downed trees, ripped off roofing, toppled houses and left a trail of litter in its path. The unusual part of this hurricane was that it maintained its category 1 strength for the eight hours while it passed through Belize. Richard made landfall 20 miles South of Belize City on a westerly track, churning through at 13 miles an hour and impacting more than half Belize s population. The communities affected were Gales Point, Mullins River, Freetown Sibun, Hattieville, Gracie Rock, St. Mathews, Cotton Tree, Belmopan, Camalote, Blackman Eddy, Teakettle, Unitedville, Spanish Lookout, Georgeville, Central Farm, Esperanza and San Ignacio. In the South communities affected were Dangriga, Sarawee, Hopecreek, Pomona, Altavista, Steadfast, Valley Community, Middlesex, Hummingbird Community, St. Margaret, Caves branch and Armenia.

9 In the Stann Creek, the wind damage was recorded as far as Silkgrass Village but no damage occurred to citrus in that area. Also no damage was recorded to citrus in the Mayflower area but damage was done to the forest and teak plantations. The hardest hit areas were the Melinda road, Sarawee, the Mullins River area, along the coastal road to Democracia, In the valley serious damage was recorded to grapefruit and oranges from Hope Creek to Caves Branch area. Little damage was recorded South and West of Belmopan and very little damage on oranges was recorded in Central Farm and Esperanza. These areas produced mainly oranges. The sectors of the economy that were hardest hit are housing and agriculture (Table 5). However, damage cost for electricity and telephones are not in as yet. Table 5. Cost of damage by Hurricane Richard to Belize Economy Sector Amount ($M Bz) Tourism 9.0 Housing 14.1 Education 0.4 Fishing Industry 7.6 Agriculture(includes Citrus Industry) 39.2 Total 70.3

10 Damage Assessment On Monday October 25, 2010 assessment of the damages in the industry commenced with the use of samples taken from affected orange and grapefruit citrus groves in the affected zones in the industry as categorized by CGA database. Data from samples groves provided the average fruit drop numbers per groves in each zone in the affected area and these were used with recorded acreage for these zones to calculate fruit drop for the industry. This data was corroborated with growers who provided feedback on the extent of fruit loss and tree damage to their individual groves. Samples were recorded by counting the amount of fallen fruit under the citrus tree. A number of samples were taken for each area usually 40 samples per area. The average was calculated to obtain average fallen fruit per tree. This was multiplied by the number of trees per acre (using tree spacing data) to obtain fruits per acre. This was divided by 160 for oranges and 90 for grapefruit to convert to boxes of fruit per acre. The boxes of fruit per acre were multiplied by acres for the zone to obtain boxes of fruit per zone. Estimated Grapefruit Loss It is estimated that 803,023 boxes of grapefruit were shaken off the trees by the high winds brought on by Hurricane Richard. The fallen fruits represented some 80.08% of the fruit of the forecast grapefruit crop for the current crop year.. The value of the juice that could be produced from these fruits had they reached maturity and was harvested and delivered to the factory is $9,069, (Table 6) at current market prices. Table 6. Value of loss to the Citrus Industry by Hurricane Richard. Grapefruit Orange Value of juice Boxes lost 803,023 1,352,072 $32,595,104 Percent loss 80.08% 23.93% Acres affected 5,362 27,426 Forecast ,649,466 1,002,726 The zones that had the most losses were Melinda road with estimated loss for grapefruit of 185,410 boxes, Altavista with 131,063 boxes, Middlesex with 93,240 boxes, Pomona with 67,004 boxes and Old Mullins River with 56,888 boxes. In these zones are some of the largest grapefruit farms (see table 7). The acreage of grapefruit affected by Richard is estimated to be 5362 acres or 81.4% of the total area planted to grapefruit. The grapefruit crop remaining are those of South Stann Creek which are intact and those of Belmopan area which have minimal damage. A portion of the remaining 20% of the fruit on the trees could fall off in the following weeks since some of these are wind damaged. The average broken or uprooted trees for grapefruit was 10.1%. One grove in the Mullins River Village area reported 37.5% loss of grapefruit trees. The older larger trees were the most affected by the high wind speeds. Growers should take note of this situation.

11 Table 7. Estimated loss of grapefruit due to Hurricane Richard Grapefruit Grower Group Grapefruit acres Est. cxs/acre Estimated loss Melinda road Altavista Middlesex Village Pomona Old Mullins River Santa Martha Sarawee Valley Community Hope Creek Canada Hill Caves Branch La Democracia Steadfast Village Hummingbird Community Mullins River Village Esperanza Camalote Coastal road Roaring River Area Frank Eddy Freetown Sibun Ring Tail San Ignacio St. Mathews Cotton Tree More Tomarrow Yalbac Total Estimated Orange Loss It is estimated that 1,352,072 boxes of oranges were shaken off the trees. Most of these dropped fruits were immature and therefore could not be salvaged and sent to the factory. Although oranges had less damage as a percentage of the total forecast crop as compared to grapefruit, the acreage is larger and thus more boxes of oranges were lost. The amount of oranges that fell to the ground represents approximately 23.93% of the total crop. (See Table 6).

12 Table 8. Orange losses due to Hurricane Richard. Orange Grower Group Orange acres Est. cxs/acre Estimated loss La Democracia Old Mullins River Altavista Melinda road Caves Branch Santa Martha Mullins River Village Middlesex Village Pomona Esperanza Hope Creek Sarawee Coastal road Valley Community Canada Hill Yalbac Steadfast Village Frank Eddy Camalote Hummingbird Community Roaring River Area Freetown Sibun More Tomarrow Cotton Tree San Ignacio St. Mathews Ring Tail Total The zone with the most damage to oranges is La Democracia with approximately 406,560 boxes of oranges. This was followed by Old Mullins River Area with 191,136 boxes, Altavista with 135,866 boxes and Melinda road with 99,784 boxes (Table 8). Some of the largest orange orchards are located in these zones. The highest fallen fruits were recorded in La Democracia, Old Mullins River, Mullins River Village and the Coastal Road area.

13 Damages to the Citrus Industry a pictorial view Grapefruit on the ground at Silver Creek Orange on the ground at Valley Community

14 Broken Grapefruit tree Collapsed house at St. Margaret

15 Damage to Infrastructure Hurricane Richard was an intense category 1 and the 8 hours that it took to cross Belize did bring a lot of rain but these lasted only for the duration of the storm. The following day was sunny and very little flooding took place. There was damage to infrastructure but these were mostly to power lines, some roofs blown off and some houses completely damaged. Damage to roads was mostly due to fallen trees. Damaged roof at Mile 28 Hummingbird Highway. Damaged utility post and roof of house blown off at Pomona.

16 Fruit Salvage The Citrus Growers Association and Citrus Products of Belize Limited, initiated salvage operations on Monday October 25, 2010 that continued up to October 31, The maturity ratio accepted for grapefruit was 7.0 and over and 12.0 and over for oranges. The factory managed to receive for this period a total of 106,704 boxes of which 10,205 boxes was oranges and 96,499 boxes was grapefruit. The capacity of the CCB plant was 20,000 boxes daily. The BFP plant was opened on Thursday October 25, 2010 but congestion at the factory slowed down delivery. A lot of fruit was lost due to delays in delivery. An estimated 15,000 boxes was rejected over the weekend of October 30-31, 2010 due to high percent of rotten grapefruits and a few trailer loads of oranges with ratio below 12:1. On Friday October 29, 2010 some 339 students and 50 teachers from Independence High school volunteered to pick up fallen fruits on citrus farms where growers needed help. Four farms accepted the students and they selected, gathered and bagged fallen fruits as part of the salvage operation. Students from Independence Highschool at Bernard s Farm picking up grapefruit.

17 Damage to other crops Citrus farmers also plant other crops. These include mostly tree crops and rootcrops such as cassava, coco yams and sweet potato. The tree crops include avocado, mango, crabboo, soursop, golden plum, malay apple, plantain, banana, coconuts, annatto, coffee, papaya, cashew, nutmeg and cocoa. Although these losses have not been quantified yet they are substantial since most small growers depend on these crops as another source of income. Five acres of plantain damaged. They were at bearing stage.

18 Garden crops damaged at Mile 3 Stann Creek Valley road. Effect of damage of Citrus Industry to the Belize economy The damage to the Citrus Industry is massive in terms of dollars lost. The estimated $32.6M Bz loss will affect the country in terms of foreign exchange that will not enter the economy as well the trickle down effect that would have occurred with the circulation of these funds in the local and national economy. The citrus farmer will have to source credit for recovery. The loans that were extended to farms to help improve production will have to be rescheduled to meet present conditions. New credit will be needed to purchase inputs such as lime, fertilizer, herbicides, cleaning of groves. This credit will have to be of low interest rates to allow for the recovery of lost yield. It is expected that the stress of the hurricane on the trees will stimulate the trees to bear and a timely application of fertilizer now and in the coming months will result in bumper crops over the next 2 years. The small amount of grapefruit that was left on the trees will cost more to harvest and some smaller farms will not be able to transport full loads to the factory and thus will have problems to organize the transportation of fruit to factory. It is also anticipated that purchasing power of the citrus farmers will be reduced and thus less money will circulate in the local economy. It is also expected that additional loss of fruit will occur in the next two weeks after the storm. This fruit fall is due to wind whip that was suffered by the fruit. It could be a little but for additional loss to the grower it means more economic hardship in the months ahead.

19 Post Hurricane Richard outlook for the Industry The damage by Hurricane Richard occurred when the Industry is facing some of the most difficult issues such as Citrus Greening now present, division by the creation of Belize Citrus Mutual, unfinished Citrus Act, control by the Majority shareholder in CPBL and most of all falling grove production. On the issue of Citrus Greening the situation is serious because of the lack of will by growers to contribute for the control of the disease. The areas of the Industry that are most affected is the South Stann Creek, the Valley up to Hummingbird Community. There is need to commence the control of the psyllid vector to prevent the spread of the disease and reduce the intensity of infection. There is urgency to address funding for the control of Citrus Greening. The control must be an industry wide integrated approach. Groups of farms must implement control. If airplanes will be used to spray the area all growers must contribute to the cost. The challenge to declining yields of citrus farm must be addressed. While the processing side has seen injection of capital to improve capacity and processing to meet the 10M boxes of citrus target yet field yields have declined. There is need to improve extension service to the industry to help farmers with technical issues at the grove level. There is also need to improve nurseries for the production of clean planting materials. However production of clean planting material must follow control of the psyllid otherwise efforts will be wasted since these clean plants will be infected if they are planted out in infected groves. At the field level, basic agronomic practice must be improved. The use of soil and leaf analysis can fine tune fertilize cost and improve production in the long term. Grove nutrition must improve if production of oranges will go from 150 boxes per acre to at least 250 boxes per acre where cost can be reduced. Grapefruit must improve from 175 boxes per acre to 350 boxes per acre to achieve similar reduction in cost. The source of credit at this time for citrus farmers is the revolving fund at 5% and Social Security loan funds at 11.5%. There is also the availability of DFC financing at 12.75% that farmers can access. However, cost of inputs can be reduced significantly if all growers band together as a group with CPBL to command competitive prices for purchase of inputs. The Challenge is for citrus growers to unite to tackle the problems confronting the Industry and to use this power to lobby for better prices for inputs needed by the farm. This is the strength that needs to be capitalize to move the industry into the competitive area of marketing and commerce.

20 Bibliography Bowman W.A.J Citrus Culture in British Honduras. CPBL Annual Report Central Bank of Belize Annual Report Central Bank of Belize Annual Report Central Bank of Belize Annual Report Central Bank of Belize Annual Report Special thanks I give thanks to Veronica Manzanero Majil, David Saravia, Ian Rosado, Kenneth Moore, Edgar White and Donaldo Bardalez for their efforts in the survey gathering information that made possible this report. To Ian for the photographs provided for this report. My sincerest gratitude to Mr. Henry Anderson for the revision, editing and suggestions to this report. The affected Citrus Farmers for allowing us to visit the farm and for providing the data needed for this report. Date this day of November 3, 2010 Luis Gabriel Tzul Senior Loans Officer - CGA