P.U.P. Sides with Farmers on the Issue of the Spoilt Molasses

There is unease in the always volatile sugar industry tonight as millers and producers argue over who should pay, after hundreds of thousands of dollars- worth of molasses was destroyed at the factory. ASR/B.S.I. has decided that farmers will need to foot sixty-five percent of the losses, amounting to just over two hundred and eighty-one thousand dollars. But in a release issued today, the People’s United Party refers to that decision as unjust, unreasonable and outrageous. The suggestion by the factory has been that the deterioration of the molasses was due to the low quality of cane delivered, but the P.U.P. calls that assertion baseless, since this season’s crop is far from the worst that has been delivered to the factory, with no deterioration in those instances. The release states that, “based on consultation with technical and experienced advisors, the P.U.P. has confirmed that the Maillard Reaction was as a direct result of ASR’s negligence and failure to follow standard procedures during the liquefying stage of the boiling process. Farmers are not to blame for the Maillard Reaction.” The release further states that, “the unjust loss of two hundred and eighty-one thousand, two hundred and thirty-three dollars to cane farmers comes at a time when farmers are receiving one of the lowest prices in years, even though the records show that the world price of sugar is at the highest in twenty years as a result of the drop in world-wide production.” The release ends by calling on the Government of Belize and the Sugar Industry Control Board to intervene to ensure that cane-farmers be treated fairly and with respect.