B.S.C.F.A. Urges Membership Not to Deliver Cane Individually

The B.S.C.F.A. which is being supported by the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, has raised serious concerns over B.S.I.’s invitation for members of the association to deliver sugarcane to the mill in the absence of a commercial agreement.  According to Alfredo Ortega, of the Committee of Management, after seeking legal advice on the matter, B.S.C.F.A. is calling upon its membership to refrain from delivering sugarcane individually, as it is seen as an act of breaking up the association by the miller.  On the other hand, B.S.I.’s Financial Director, Shawn Chavarria, told reporters today that the offer was simply an interim solution until B.S.C.F.A. is able to arrive at a long-term commercial agreement with the company.

Alfredo Ortega

Alfredo Ortega, Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association

“So now we reach to this point on which they have declared a start of crop without having the BSCFA signing an agreement, but yet what BSI has brought out is that they have brought out a press release in which they are calling our farmers to deliver without having any signature of an agreement.  We sent that information to our lawyer, our lawyer said please tell your farmers not to deliver under those conditions because once they trigger that and start to deliver, they will start to become individual farmers.  So that is why we are here, we are calling the attention of our farmers, please don’t deliver until we have a signed agreement with BSI.

Isani Cayetano

“How do you, as the miller, respond to the idea that the BSCFA believes that by you guys saying, well, “Set aside the agreement, let’s keep it open. You can come in and deliver your cane on your own.”  How do you respond to the idea that they see that as some form of breaking up the association as it were?”

Shawn Chavarria

Shawn Chavarria, Director of Finance, B.S.I.

“As I said in the interviews yesterday, we don’t see it as breaking up the association.  We see it as breaking the deadlock because we’re at a deadlock with the BSCFA.  We saw that there was a very low probability of reaching long-term agreement with the BSCFA and so the whole crop would have stayed in limbo.  We also have to remember that we have two thousand farmers who want to deliver cane.  Yes, the BSCFA is fifty percent of the cane, they have three thousand membership, but there are also two thousand farmers in this industry who want to deliver cane, that have agreements with us.  So there is a balance that has to be struck at the end of the day.  We also have our contractual arrangements that we have to meet and commit to.  And so, we saw this as a way to move forward, to get the crop started, without disrupting the industry significantly.  It’s simply a mechanism to allow the BSCFA farmers to deliver their cane while their leadership makes a decision in terms of reaching a long-term commercial agreement.”