A.G.M.: farmers must settle debts or face legal action

The Orange Walk Cane Farmers Association held its Annual General Meeting as scheduled on Sunday. A large number, some seven hundred and fifty cane farmers, turned out for the event. According to C.E.O. of the Association, Carlos Magana, later this week the association will have full accounting of how monies have been spent in respect of over seven million dollars granted to the Association through Fairtrade Certification from the sale of sugar to the European market. The A.G.M. dealt with the special audit for the year ending 2006 and agreed to seek legal recourse in respect of unaccounted funds. Farmers with outstanding loans will have to pay up or face legal action. There was also a recommendation to change the composition of the Finance Committee to reflect an equal number of members from the Association to those elected from the floor and the inclusion of one independent member. According to Magana, the Corozal Branch of the Cane Farmers Association will hold its A.G.M. on October nineteenth to be followed by a combined meeting of both Associations, on the twenty-sixth October.