There was an impromptu protest this morning against ASR/B.S.I. Notwithstanding, the company set up barricades and the police showed up just in case. The protest was not advertised so only a handful of caneros came out to say they cannot accept part of the financial losses resulting from affected molasses. ASR/B.S.I. is proposing that the […]
On Monday, the People’s United Party chastised ASR/B.S.I. for the suggestion that the farmers will need to pick-up the bill for sixty-five percent of the losses incurred by the affected molasses. The losses, said the P.U.P., was due to the failure to follow standard procedures, but today, B.S.I. shot back strongly rejected the P.U.P.’s view. […]
There is unease in the always volatile sugar industry tonight as millers and producers argue over who should pay, after hundreds of thousands of dollars- worth of molasses was destroyed at the factory. ASR/B.S.I. has decided that farmers will need to foot sixty-five percent of the losses, amounting to just over two hundred and eighty-one […]
Up north, there is trouble in the sugar belt. Will sugar cane farmers in the north bear the brunt of financial losses from spoiled molasses? Caneros are tonight incensed over the suggestion that they will have to absorb sixty-five percent of the total cost of the wasted syrup. That works out to about twenty-two cents […]
Today the Ministry of Economic Development and stakeholders launched the National Trade Police Framework. That structure signifies approval by Cabinet to implement a comprehensive review to find common and fertile ground between multi-lateral and regional trade rules and the development needs of domestic producers, exporters and stakeholders. News Five’s Mike Rudon was at the launch […]
Tonight, ASR/B.S.I., along with the Department of Environment’s technical personnel, is working around the clock to contain a large quantity of molasses. How that will be done, is yet to be determined since the tonnage of affected syrup is stored in a significantly huge tank. The molasses is produced for local consumption as well as […]
As ASR/B.S.I. deals with its molasses woes and tries to assess the financial impact, Santander is dealing with its own problems where that excessively sweet by-product is concerned. In their case it’s a leak from the containing tank. On the Phone: Beverly Burke, Santander Representative, Belize “A few weeks ago, I don’t remember the […]
Santander, the mega-million dollar investment in sugar cane growing and milling, has been issued with a stop order by the Department of the Environment. News Five brought you that story on Wednesday, confirmed by the C.E.O. in the Ministry of the Environment, Colin Young. The problem is a breach of environmental rules outlined in the […]
Burke says that during a routine site visit by the Department of the Environment, they were informed that those works should not have been done without the express permission of the Department. And that is when they were issued, in writing, with an enforcement order. Since that point, with the supervision of the pertinent authorities, […]
The state of the art facility, set on twenty-thousand acres in Valley of Peace, is one of the largest investments in Belize, close to two hundred million dollars. Burke says that reality, and the fact that the company has done and continues to do so many positive things in the community and country, should at […]
There is big news tonight coming out of the largest new industry in the west of the country. Santander, located in Valley of Peace in the Cayo District, recently started exporting sugar from its state of the art processing facility on twenty-thousand acres. The company employs eight hundred, and represents an investment of almost two […]
The stop order was not to close the factory down, but rather to give the company strict notice that it must act immediately to remedy what in some cases were deliberate breaches. On the Phone: Colin Young, C.E.O., Ministry of the Environment “There were four or five things if I can recall. One was […]
Earlier we told you about the fines being imposed against Santander for the breach of environmental compliance. The other sugar factory in the north is also facing its own challenges. ASR/B.S.I. confirmed today that there is a sharp deterioration in the quality of molasses. According to the company, it has confirmed a case of Maillard […]
The 2016 sugar crop closed on Sunday and the numbers show that the crop was a healthy one and even though there was a small reduction in sugar production, the crop held its own. Today, ASR/B.S.I. and stakeholders acknowledged that a number of factors contributed to the reduction. But all be told, both sides welcome […]
The deplorable conditions of sugar roads remain an issue for caneros in the north. Every season they experience major setbacks during the course of extracting cane from their farms. Despite government’s promise to assist with grading and drainage, the economic impact of poorly kept roads is felt across the industry. At the end of the […]
A significant part of the economic downturn has been attributed to problems in traditionally robust industries – like papaya, shrimp and bananas. Fruta Bomba has closed its doors, shrimp farms are struggling to recover from disease and over a thousand acres of bananas have rotted in the fields after Mayan King was forced to close. […]
Since Minister of Labor Hugo Patt has also been G.O.B.’s representative in the sugar industry, we also asked for an update on negotiations between G.O.B., the three cane-farmers associations and ASR/B.S.I. on a framework going forward. The industry has faced challenges caused by tension between players and market prices and Patt told us today that […]
Haul Day is a big event in the Crooked Tree, Belize District. It allows fisher folks to catch fish in the lagoon within the wildlife sanctuary for their own consumption as well as for retail. But what should have been an occasion rich with opportunity turned out nasty for the fisher folks when representatives from […]
So back to the Sarstoon. One of the major criticisms in that area has been that Guatemalan fisherfolk have been allowed to fish freely in Belizean waters, at times travelling as far as Barranco setting illegal gill nets. It’s a situation we’ve seen firsthand, and it hasn’t changed even with the addition of the Forward […]
There is an outbreak of Bovine Rabies in the Cayo District. The Belize Agricultural Health Authority along with the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health and Belize Livestock Producers, issued an advisory informing that livestock in the Cayo District is affected with the rabies and there are suspected cases in the areas along the Macal […]
It started as the annual Cacao Festival, but over the weekend, the tenth edition of the event surrounding chocolate was held in the southernmost town of Punta Gorda. The three-day event is organized by the Toledo Chapter of the Belize Tourism Industry Association and the Toledo Cacao Growers Association and was officially opened last Friday […]
The Santander Group celebrated a milestone today with the exportation of its first shipment of raw sugar. A quota of fourteen thousand tons of unrefined grain is being trucked to the port at Big Creek. From there the containers are destined to the European market in the days ahead. The achievement has been a few […]
While projections are being made for increased production in subsequent crops, there are no plans as yet for the construction of a refinery. As it stands, Santander is wholesaling unprocessed sugar at a different cost than it would refined grain, with no preferential prices. According to Burke, they have not been able to look at […]
Farmers in the Trio area were the recipients of funding from the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center. The funding was a part of the 5Cs assistance to combat the threats of climate change, including deforestation due to lack of water, forest fires which threaten crops and lack of sufficient arable land. The primary initiative includes […]
The National Agriculture and Trade Show took place over the weekend at the show grounds in Belmopan. The annual event drew thousands looking for deals in goods and services. This year, the traditional was offered complemented by a mix of new products in a wide range of items such as chocolates, jams, sauces, beauty products […]
