BSI Rejects BSCFA Proposals

Ezekiel Cansino

The sugar-cane crop season 2014-2015 will not start on December eighth. And when, or if it will start, is anybody’s guess. On Wednesday the BSCFA presented proposals to the BSI on three main points of contention. And at around four fifteen today, via letter, the BSI rejected those proposals and, we are told, issued modified proposals. So where does that leave the negotiation process? Well, like we said, that’s anybody’s guess. Today a visibly disappointed BSCFA Chairman Ezekiel Cansino gave a brief comment as he departed the office in Orange Walk.

Ezekiel Cansino, Chairman, Committee of Management, BSCFA (Translated)

“Honestly we received a response that we weren’t expecting. We were expecting something more positive. And we’re not, how would you say, very happy with it. We need to discuss it more in-depth, and we have contacted the government. Tomorrow we have a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister to discuss it and report all that BSI has sent us. Basically we can say that where bagasse is concerned, they are proposing that they need to talk more about it. And where the other points we discussed are concerned, they aren’t telling us anything that is favourable to us. We have been very flexible, and now they are telling us that they want us to be more flexible. And I think that we have given the industry to move ahead with this. I think we need to wait and talk to the government to see what path we can take. We have a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister and nine tomorrow morning, and after that we have to have a meeting with the cane-farmers and give them information on what is happening, and what BSI has presented to us. So that we can make a decision on what we can do in the future to resolve this problem.”

No date has been set for the meeting with the cane-farmers.