Cane Farmers Association continues strike

There might be a breakthrough in the strike by cane farmers in the north. And this evening, Chairman of the Sugar Industry Control Board, Nemencio Acosta, told News Five that a meeting was held today among officials of the Board and Belize Sugar Industries Limited to discuss the possibility of a new price mechanism. But that will not be finalized until another meeting tomorrow. The farmers are on strike because of the introduction of the so called core sampler equipment which is used to determine the price paid to farmers based on quality of cane delivered. Representatives of the Cane Farmers Association’s two divisions from Corozal and Orange Walk were also a part of the discussions today. But until there can be some common ground on the matter, the delivery of sugarcane continues to suffer. On Wednesday, only twelve hundred tons of sugarcane were delivered to Tower Hill in comparison to the five thousand five hundred tons that is normally delivered per day. The low yield converts to roughly half of the four hundred cane farmers that deliver cane daily. The strike will also result in an extended season to make up for the days lost.