Fairtrade Certifies The B.S.C.F.A.

The Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association has received the acceptance of their proposed corrective measures to non-compliances cited by Fairtrade auditors last month. Last year the largest cane-farmer’s association was cited for four major non-compliances, but this year the results of the audit are much more positive. Chairman of the B.S.C.F.A.’s Committee of Management Ezekiel Cansino told News Five that there were no major infractions found in the latest audit.

Ezequiel Cansino

Ezequiel Cansino, Chairman, Committee of Management, B.S.C.F.A.

“We continue to be certified under the Fairtrade logo. No compliance was a major one. All the non-compliances are minor and we are happy to get this news. The first non-compliance was that in the industry, as an Association, we cannot provide a diagram of how the cane is cultivated from the preparation of the land, the planting, the harvesting and transportation to the mill. We cannot provide a diagram, we can only explain it and they were looking for a diagram which explains the process. We are already working on this to put it in place and they say that they will accept it latest the twenty-fifth of November. The next one is that we haven’t signed a contract with B.S.I. on the sales of the sugar under the Fairtrade logo. That is not a difficult one, because B.S.I. knows that is a very important one and they have said that as soon as possible we will sign the contract. The other non-compliance that they gave was that the auditors as he went to the cane-fields he noticed that there is no first aid kit where the cane-cutters are working and that is necessary. He came to the office and he found at each office a first aid kit, but he gave us a non-compliance on that.”