Cane Farmers Want to Renegotiate Agreement with A.S.R./B.S.I.

Marciano Novelo

The Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association had its say today during a virtual press conference.  Representatives of the membership spoke about their desire to renegotiate a commercial agreement with A.S.R./B.S.I.  Signed in 2015, it says that a new agreement can be negotiated after seven years, or the existing agreement can be rolled over.  B.S.C.F.A. is the largest of four associations, representing some three thousand three hundred small sugar cane farmers who cumulatively produce up to fifty-five percent of the sugar cane milled by A.S.R./B.S.I.  The association says its farmers have operated under the current agreement for the past seven years, despite concerns and objections to certain matters they had hoped would be revisited.

Marciano Novelo, Chairman, B.S.C.F.A. Management Committee

“On the eleventh of August, we sent a notice of termination to BSI that we want to negotiate an agreement. We have seen that, in this agreement, it is not fair to cane farmers. So, they responded to us that they do not want to negotiate a new agreement. After they responded that they do not want to negotiate a new agreement, they sent a proposed addendum to the present agreement, if they do not want to negotiate a new agreement, why are they sending us a new addendum? We have sent to them, as well, our proposals, which include the seal and purchase of sugar, payments for bagasse, the terms of the agreement, and factory efficiency. In turn, they have also sent an open letter to our member farmers, trying to intimidate them in regards to the delivery of their cane, in regards to the agreements.”

The A.S.R./B.S.I. has indicated that due to low prices they do not feel this is the right time for a renegotiation.