Bittersweet Times in the Sugar Industry

There has been a peaceful revolution taking place in the sugar industry.  For the first time in history there is an open revolt against the directors of Belize Cane Farmers Association.

At the 25 July 2011 general meeting the cane farmers passed a resolution that:

a) Expressed no confidence in their directors

b) Suspended all allowances, stipends and other monthly allocations to the directors

c) Relieved all duties including the use of monies in relation to Fairtrade (Fairtrade is an international institution that is making available over $13 million for the cane farmers) and

d) elected an oversight committee to continue the Fairtrade functions.

Many may ask why all the fuss? Unfortunately, the sugar industry is going thought its toughest time in history and there is a growing frustration among the farmers that no one seems to be listening to their plight.

First there is the issue of the receiving and milling of sugar cane at the Belize Sugar Industry (BSI) factory in Orange Walk. This year BSI commissioned the Belcogen co-generation plant, a much needed investment for the survival of the sugar industry.

Belcogen burns the bagasse (the waste from the sugar cane) to generate electricity for use at the sugar factory and sells the electricity to Belize Electricity Limited (BEL). Unfortunately the coordination between Belcogen and BSI created many problems and breakdowns that the delivery of cane has been moving at a snail’s pace. Many farmers complained that the queue to deliver cane was so long and slow that it took them as much as five days to deliver a load of sugar cane.

These slow deliveries have had a devastating effect on the economy in the North. The cane cutters and drivers have been taking home an average of $100.00 per week. With slow deliveries, many farmers have been unable to fill their cane quotas. This directly affects their family and their ability to pay bank loans.

These slow deliveries of cane have extended the crop into the month of August, something unheard of in the industry. Last week’s sugar industry report, showed that 1,032,000 tons of sugar cane has been delivered and BSI has milled 82,800 tons of sugar. This is an average of 12.24 tons of sugar cane to produce one ton of sugar.

Last year’s sugar crop ended in late June and BSI milled 917,400 tons of sugar cane to produce 92,400 tons of sugar, at an average of 9.93 tons of sugar cane to produce one ton of sugar.

Why is BSI using more cane to produce a ton of sugar?  There are several reasons but two important ones are the delays caused by the long queues as well as the extension of the sugar crop. The crop usually ends in late June or early July because most of the cane has been delivered. Once the rainy season begins it become highly unprofitable to deliver and mill sugar cane. This was proven as early as last week, when cane farmers were advised that BSI was milling 36 tons of cane to produce one ton of sugar.

Belizeans may be wondering what’s this all about? It is about money.  It was announced that the second payment for farmers would be approximately $7.00 per ton of cane. Last year it was $22.00.

At the end of this crop approximately 200,000 tons of cane will remain in the fields costing the industry about $ 8 million. The increase of two more tons to produce a ton of sugar will cost the industry another $6 million. These are all losses that the industry, especially our over five thousand farmers cannot afford to loose.

What can be done? There are no easy answers but certain actions must be taken. 1) Greater and timely intervention of Government through the SICB must be taken, 2) With the court ruling against the association, the act must be revised to allow better and stronger management of the industry and 3) Government must set aside some of the EU funds for the farmers to access cheaper financing to rehabilitate and expand their fields.

Unless drastic actions are taken, sugar will continue to be bittersweet for the farmers of the North and that revolution my not continue to be peaceful.

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