Sugar crop opens to low cane prices

The sugar industry is facing many challenges and they are not sweet. There is a low sugar production, low quality of cane and low prices that farmers will be fetching this year. Marion Ali travelled to Orange Walk today for the opening of the new crop.

Marion Ali, Reporting
The line at the Belize Sugar Industries Limited was not as long as was anticipated on the first day of cane delivery for the beginning of this crop year, but there were cane farmers who had come from early in the morning to deliver their first load of sugarcane for processing. Those who were in the queue told News Five that their problem with Belize Sugar Industries is the new price per ton of cane and that they were hoping that the figures would change following a meeting set for December fourteenth.

Marcelo Alcoser, Cane Farmer
“Deh jus di pay us, the estimate was forty-six dollars for a ton but that low.”

Marion Ali
“Before it was…”

Marcelo Alcoser
“Fifty two. I come because dis dah wah freight, it’s not my personal cane. If was the owner I neva mi wah start. Dat’s why I noh wah start because fi wah better price, I would ah rather stand and wait fi protest on di fourteenth. I am a farmer, that’s why I was not coming to deliver my one, my personal cane, I am just bringing a freight.”

Jose Copo, Cane Farmer
“I hope B.S.I. and the Association try to arrange something better for betterment then. We’ll see what happens afterwards, after the meeting.”

Marcelo Alcoser
“We wah wait until the fourteenth fi mek dehn du di meeting and wait for a better price and a different price and B.S.I. could do it.”

But according to B.S.I. Factory Manager, John Gillett, B.S.I. cannot and will not pay more than what they have offered per ton of cane. In fact, Gillett says the only ones who can determine what is to be paid, are the cane farmers themselves.

John Gillett, Factory Manager, B.S.I.
“You get a lotta fiber, you get a lot of bagasse from the same cane so the cane does not have the same purity so you don’t get the excessive amounts of molasses being produced.”

Carlos Magana, C.E.O., Belize Cane Farmers Assn.
“When it comes to the price, we are facing what we call international market cuts from the E.U. We are facing the thirty-six percent reduction on the prices of which this year we’ve been applied a twelve percent and the previous we’ve been applied five percent. So at the end of this year we will have a seventeen percent of the reduction of the price being applied. This is not an issue we can fight against; this is an issue that is being given to us by the E.U. due to the price cut. So if that is the reason, what we can do and I’ve been calling on farmers, I’ve been mentioning this at the level of the branch level meetings, at the level of the divisional meetings, we need to be more proactive in looking at the conditions of the sugarcane that we are delivering.”

Alfonso Briceño, Rep., Corozal Cane Farmers Assn.
“I don’t think we are going to have any change in the cane payment because prior to the start of the crop, management sits down with B.S.I.’s management and we estimate the amount of cane that is going to be ground for the crop and based on a quality, we calculate more or less what amount of sugar is going to be produced from that cane. Presently, we have already agreed that the production will one million one hundred and fifty thousand tons of cane for this crop just starting, producing one hundred and five thousand tons of sugar and based on the markets, we then calculate what amount of money is going to be paid for each farmer based on the quality.”

And because the quality of the sugarcane needs to be better, Corozal Cane Farmer Representative, Alfonso Briceño, says there will be stricter measures put in place, such as the reintroduction of a rejection criteria after it was lifted three years ago.

Alfonso Briceño
“The factory manager at that time saw that there was no need for it because our quality was more or less good. But after the suspension of it, farmers started it see that nobody was checking on them so they started to bring a lot of substandard cane and that had a negative impact on our quality.”

John Gillett
“From B.S.I. point of view we can get more efficient, we can have a higher time efficiency, we can have a higher going rate and so on. But certainly all these things are linked to quality. When you are doing anything and certainly when you produce a commodity, or you are producing a special recipe for whatever product that you are making, you want as fresh or as good quality material to start with. So if we are getting poor quality material, the factory certainly will slow down. Conversely, if we’re getting good quality material, the efficiency of the factory will improve tremendously.”

But improving the quality of locally produced sugar cane would entail the rehabilitation of cane fields to get larger and better yields. And that can only happen with funding from the European Union. Those monies are expected to be made available in this crop year. As for the farmers gripe with payments, those who showed up did so because they need the money.

Jose Copo
“Christmas is coming and we want to make something for the Christmas.”

Marion Ali
“You’re getting paid less this year though right?”

Jose Copo
“Yes, yes. We are getting paid less this year than last year.”

Marion Ali
“And you come out because…”

Jose Copo
“Yes, because it’s a time for work and it’s a time for making something then.”

Just in case there was a protest, there was police presence on the compound but they eventually left when they saw things were running as per normal. Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.

Another concern cane farmers have is how their financial contributions to the Association are being spent but C.E.O. Carlos Magana insists there is transparency. Magana says he invites any cane farmer to his office to review the records and the Association will present financial reports at their December fourteenth meeting. And just in case you were wondering about the availability of white sugar for your Christmas cake, well B.S.I. says that problem will be addressed as early as this weekend. With the first delivery of sugarcane to the factory today, white sugar should once again be on the shelves in abundant supply very soon.