The ongoing rift in the Citrus Industry

Elizabeth Pridgeon

It seems that the media houses of Belize can’t get enough of the CPBL versus CGA story.

One of the most publicised aspects of the story is that the Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) wants CEO of CPBL, Dr Henry Canton, Mr Michael Duncker and Mr Frank Redmond to be removed from their position on the Board of CPBL.  And yet, in regards to Dr Henry Canton’s position, the agreement has always been that the CGA, with their 51 percent of the company, can nominate 5 directors through their investment arm, the Investment Company Limited (ICL).  One of these five directors is permanently fixed as Dr Henry Canton, according to the employment agreement signed by both parties on 21^st October 2002, which states “the Company [ICL] shall appoint the CEO [Dr Henry Canton] as a director of the Company and of each of the Company’s subsidiary companies for the duration of this agreement”. .

While the CGA are responsible for the appointment of these 5 directors, the other principal share holder, Banks Holdings (BHL) of Barbados, is responsible for the nomination of the remaining 4 Board Directors. When the CGA first began their commentary on the position of Dr Henry Canton, Banks proposed a compromise to increase the number of directors from nine to ten, thus the CGA would maintain their right to nominate 5 directors over and above the resident post allocated to Dr Henry Canton.

The second issue is really a division between growers, which is casually aligned according to the scale of production of each grower.   In the initial years in the aftermath of Del Oro (Belize) Ltd becoming CPBL in 2002, the largest 65 growers were responsible for 75 percent of the country’s citrus production.  Today, it is loosely estimated that a mere 37 large scale growers produce approximately 80 percent of the country’s production.  Whilst all 575 growers were affiliated with the CGA (368 full members and 207 provisional members), each grower had equal influence on the nomination process through a 1 man-1 vote method.

This, in theory, gave the small-scale growers (many of whom boast less than 10 acres of citrus), a powerful voice in CGA decision making processes.

It was amid this air of controversy that, on 28^th July 2009, a number of CGA resignations were received from large-scale growers, seeking confirmation that they would not be prevented from selling and delivering their citrus to CPBL, nor would they be denied a licence, merely for their dis-association from CGA.

In a response letter from the CPBL, signatories were informed that, under chapter 277 of the Citrus Act, CPBL is prohibited from accepting any citrus from any citrus producer without a licence.  All well and good, except for the fact that licences are issued only to members of the CGA.

In the meantime, the large-scale producers who resigned from the CGA in July, have now formed their own association, called the Belize Citrus Mutual, that has been registered as a not-for-profit limited company by the Belize Companies Registry and are waiting for a change in legislation to allow for Freedom of Association within the citrus industry.

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