Sugar Industry Board seeking buyer for core sampler
When we checked today we were told that the contentious core sampler machine, which brought the sugar industry to its knees in a twelve day strike earlier this month, has been dismantled at the Tower Hill mill at the B.S.I. compound. Over a million dollars were invested between the cane farmers and B.S.I. in acquiring the sampler and lab. Finance Director for B.S.I., Belizario Carballo, says that in order to prevent complete financial losses the Sugar Industry Control Board is now looking for a buyer for the machine.
Voice of Belizario Carballo, Finance Director, B.S.I.
“Things are back to normal in terms of deliveries. We are currently focused on trying to regain some time that was lost. And back to normal and things are operating smoothly.”
Duane Moody
“Mr. Carballo, what is going to be done with the core sampler?”
Voice of Belizario Carballo
“The core sampler, as you know, it is not a B.S.I. equipment—it is an equipment that is operated by the Sugar Industry Control Board through the Sugar Cane Quality Control Authority. I know they had a meeting last week and they have agreed on a process to—it’s no longer being used. The use of it has been discontinued but the Sugar Industry Control Board is yet to finalize any more plans on how it will be—they are trying to recover as much value as possible. So they are possible looking at potential sale of it. The options being looked at will eventually result in its removal. It’s either going to be sold, dismantled and put away. In any way, it will be removed physically from where it is.”
Duane Moody
“To go back to the core sampler and the Quality building being removed, when can one anticipate that that will occur?”
Voice of Belizario Carballo
“I will think fairly in the short term.”
Duane Moody
“Those who were hired by the quality authority, the Sugar Industry Control Board, will they be absorbed into the system?”
Voice of Belizario Carballo
“Those employees who were employed through the Sugar Cane Quality Control Authority as part of the Sugar Industry Control Board, currently there is no immediate replacement operation that the Sugar Industry Control Board has that can absorb that personnel. But certainly, I think that there is under consideration right now a review of what can be done to see if to some extent some of them can be used in the other quality control measure that had been previously agreed.”
Duane Moody
“So if not, they’ll lose their jobs?”
Voice of Belizario Carballo
“Yes, whether they will be remaining under the Sugar Industry Control Board or the Belize Cane Farmers Association, is uncertain at this stage but those are things that are not yet finalized and are still being considered by the Sugar Industry Control Board, how exactly those jobs will be redefined. But certainly there will be a redefinition of jobs because the job that they were employed to do has been made redundant. What has been agreed as an alternative is that there will be a series of quality control measures being implemented by the Cane Farmers Association; things to do like control burning, maturity testing, improvement in the delivery system, compliance monitoring. All of those are part of the new mechanism that was agreed to substitute the system of payment based on quality. What was presented last week was just a concept paper and right now the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association is in the process of developing that into a more detail operational plan that we can all review and agree to.”
According to B.S.I., the industry lost six thousands tons of sugar when striking farmers did not deliver cane to the mill.
