Citrus A.G.M. and special meeting called for Feb. 3rd

In news from the Stann Creek Valley, the showdown in the citrus industry is now focussing on a single day next month. A release from the Citrus Growers Association indicates that its annual general meeting will now be moved from February tenth to the third. That means the A.G.M. and the special general meeting called by a group of growers seeking to unseat the present leadership, will now be held on the same day. The A.G.M. will open at nine-thirty, while the S.G.M. kicks off in the afternoon at two. Since the morning meeting will include the election of officers, it would stand to reason that a committee of management voted in before lunch, would not be thrown out in the afternoon by the same voters. But reason is a scare commodity in the citrus belt and if history is any guide, February third figures to be at least as contentious a day as any we’ve seen thus far.

One good bit of news growers will receive at the first meeting is the payment of dividends by Citrus Products of Belize Limited. That processing company, which is ninety-seven percent owned by the C.G.A., voted to pay four million dollars in dividends, none of which will go to the company’s new Caribbean investors. Association members will then have to decide how they want to utilize the funds, bearing in mind that as a non-profit organisation it cannot distribute cash. Likely avenues of grower compensation include a low interest loan fund, subsidized fertilizer, lower cess on fruit deliveries, or expanded equipment rentals for farmers’ infrastructural requirements.