Sugar Crop Off to Smooth Start

After a two week delay, the sugar crop finally got off to smooth start today. As we have been reporting, the delay was caused mainly by a dispute involving the largest Sugar Cane Farmers Association in the industry, and the sugar mill, A.S.R./B.S.I. The sugar cane farmers are seeking to negotiate a new Commercial Agreement with the mill. But, because the current CA expires on January nineteenth and A.S.R./B.S.I. was not prepared to enter into negotiates on certain issues, an interim agreement had to be signed between both parties. The interim agreement extends the current CA up until the end of the crop, while giving both parties time to negotiate a new agreement. But, the signing of the interim agreement brought about its own tensions which led to a week of protest, and farmers erecting a blockade in front of the mill. A compromise was struck on News Year Eve, which led to the signing of the agreement. Today, when we visited the mill, those trucks that were blocking the gates were now carrying cane inside to be processed.

Andrew Westby

Andrew Westby, Chairman, Committee of Management .B.S.C.F.A.

“Today well, as you can see, the crops already begin. It begin before the ten o’clock hour. We are very happy that we met an interim agreement for the cane farmers to deliver their cane up to the end of crop nuh, because that is what we were standing up for. And, also, I would like to thank publicly the cane farmers that sacrificed with us, also the different business that support it, and also the unions that support it also with us, nationwide too, the people, and especially the government, the P.M. along with the intervention of the four ministers we had, Mr. Mai, Mr. Cervantes, Mr. Florencio Marin, and Mr. Ramirez. That day when I announced that Monday, today we will be dealing with the interim agreement, but the intervention of the ministers and P.M, overnight they worked it, and we were happy when they announced to us that we would be meeting grounds on the agreement the next day. So to our surprise when that was told to us, even the Prime Minister went to the B.S.C.F.A. office to deliver me a document that if any legal would go against the B.S.C.F.A. of what is happening, they would take it in their hands nuh.”