As Government continues to look for new ways of extracting more value from sugarcane, it has reached “an agreement in principle” with cane farmers about a possible solution to some of the challenges they face, Barbados TODAY has learned.
The details of that agreement are yet to be finalized, but already one of the island’s main private sugarcane producers is expressing optimism.
Director of Barbados Farms Limited Edward Clarke told Barbados TODAY that sugarcane producers have been meeting with Government officials on the plan.
Clarke said: “We have had a number of meetings with BAMC (Barbados Agricultural Management Company Ltd), and the Ministry of Agriculture in the last couple of months.
“I think we are at a point where we have a feasible solution where we can all work together to achieve a longer-term mechanism to push the industry forward, keep it going and make it more viable.”
While he declined to give details of what parts of the plan have so far been developed, he said it was agreed that sugarcane harvesting needed to be more efficient and that industry officials should have “opportunities to invest money in new equipment”.
Government has already indicated that a part of its plan was to revitalize the sugarcane industry and extract more from the output end, even as it seeks to revitalize the dormant Andrews Sugar Factory.
Clarke said: “Unless you have a long-term solution, say [a] five-year or seven-year solution, people really can’t invest significant sums of money not knowing where the future is. I think we are getting there.
“We have an agreement in principle and now that is being finalized.”
Last year, the sugarcane harvest season got off to a slow start and yielded well below the 137,000 tonnes of cane initially forecast, resulting in only 7,400 tonnes of sugar being produced, more than 30 per cent below 2018 production levels.
Officials are expecting an end-of-February start to this year’s harvest. With the ongoing drought, they are again forecasting very low yields.
Clarke told Barbados TODAY the BAMC was currently working with the private farmers to put mechanisms in place to improve the industry’s performance.
He said: “The big issue we have in the industry is that the drought is killing us.
The last two years it has very negatively impacted the productivity in the industry, but now the BAMC is working with the industry to make it more operational and efficient.”
He explained that the Government agency was also working with the private sugarcane farmers to cut costs where possible, pointing out that the fuel tax had increased their operation costs significantly over the last year.
After several years of uncertainty, the private sugarcane farmers have also been paid up to December 2019, something that Clarke said the sugar farmers were “thankful” for.
Clarke added: “I think that is a big plus for us. We are seeing that they are serious about it.
“We need to put everything into production and ensure we have an efficient factory operating also to help the process.”
During his review of the economy on Wednesday, Central Bank Governor Cleviston Haynes said it was time Government seriously think about the value-added it wanted to get from sugarcane production as opposed to only sugar.
Stating that the industry was ailing, Haynes added: “Sugar is a problem.
“Sugar is not going to return to its glory days.
“It has now become so small that any adverse weather condition will threaten the overall output of the sector.”
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
