Livestock farmers in Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary have been losing their cattle, but it is not to rustlers. For some time now, farmers have lost thousands of dollars because jaguars have been on the prowl in the area. The issue is that the jaguar population is under protection by law, and the only reason to […]
There are significant developments coming out of B.S.I. tonight where it is reported that longtime factory manager John Gillett tendered his resignation today. News Five understands that another senior employee at the Tower Hill Factory, Jamil Matar, was placed on administrative leave on Wednesday, but unlike Gillett, he has not opted to resign. Matar, who […]
In January cane-farmers, represented by three separate associations and B.S.I. signed onto a seven year cane purchase agreement. A critical component of the success of that agreement will be a strategic development plan – a joint effort by the mill, the government and farmers association to chart a mutually beneficial road forward for the industry. […]
According to the ASR reps, since October of 2012 they have been trying to understand the issues and challenges particular to Belize, and have been meeting with all stakeholders to further that end. Coming out of those sessions, and as a good faith gesture, ASR will be making an investment of one million dollars to […]
For the first time in history, B.S.I. has been receiving cane from three separate entities, which made for some logistics chaos at the start of crop. That all seems to have been worked out! MacLachlan says that where the Strategic Development Plan and crop are concerned, things are going as well as can be expected. […]
A year ago, after weeks of financial instability within the citrus industry, the Government of Belize, along with various stakeholders, including the Social Security Board, the Citrus Growers Association and Banks Holdings Limited, signed a memorandum of understanding outlining the way forward. The M.O.U. gave way for the appointment of a seven-member board of directors […]
On Wednesday’s newscast, we showed you the Prime Minister’s take on a situation which is bubbling in the B.S.C.F.A., the much embattled cane farmers association. To break it down, a splinter group in the B.S.C.F.A., led by Alfredo Ortega, went into the Companies Registry and registered the B.S.C.F.A. as a company. They did it without […]
But while there is little doubt it is the same association, the move is seen as an attempted coup because of the way it was done. The B.S.C.F.A. company has five subscribers, and since they are the ones who registered the company, they’re basically in charge of the Association, or company. As we said, it’s […]
With all that said, the B.S.C.F.A.’s Committee of Management isn’t budging, and has written to the subscribers of the new company to back off. The Prime Minister has announced his intent to seek the decertification of the newly registered company and the SICB…well, the SICB maintains that it is the only body that can register […]
After the successful start of the 2015 crop season, the B.S.C.F.A. was mercifully out of the spotlight. But the reprieve did not last long. This week reports surfaced that a splinter group within that Association has staged something of a coup – registering the Association as a Company, and claiming that it gives them the […]
The Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association, established over fifty-five years ago, has existed as a recognized body representing the interests of eighteen branches. But that was until mid-January when government amended the Sugar Industry Act to allow for other independent groups to do business with ASR/B.S.I. The amendment to that piece of legislation came as […]
In other developments in the sugar belt…Since opening on January twenty-sixth, the 2014-2015 sugar crop has been off to a slightly rocky start with milling coming to a grinding halt just few days later. While projections are that there is more cane to be harvested this year than in previous seasons, there are still a […]
An investigation by the Ministry of Agriculture and BAHA into the discovery of tainted Irish potatoes on the local market has confirmed that the contaminated produce, currently being passed off as the Belizean red variety, is being imported from Mexico. Of the twenty or more importers who were granted licenses in January to bring in […]
There were numerous agreements signed in the past few days. The Government of Japan signed on to two grants for the agricultural and education sectors. A total of two hundred and five thousand one hundred and fifteen dollars were issued between both grants. One hundred and two thousand US dollars was handed over for an […]
Today at the conference room of the Central Health Region in Belize City, representatives from the Belize Agricultural Health Authority, the Poultry Industry and the Ministries of Agriculture and Health gave an update on the presence of Avian Influenza Type A in western Belize. On January fifteenth, two poultry farms in Spanish Lookout, Cayo District […]
The virus primarily affects poultry and according to BAHA, there is a low risk for transmission from poultry to humans; there is also no evidence of human to human transmission. Nevertheless, the agencies have since been on the ground putting in place containment measures prohibiting all poultry products from the affected farms to leave the […]
This morning, the 2015 sugar cane crop season opened with delivery of cane from the Orange Walk Branch. Its seven weeks late, but the fact that is happening at all is cause for some jubilation by factory representatives and politicians who claim to have saved the day. The challenge now will be for stakeholders to […]
Exactly one week ago, Prime Minister Dean Barrow informed the nation that G.O.B. had allocated two million dollars for immediate work on sugar roads. But according to Orange Walk Branch Director, Alfredo Ortega, there is no massive work project underway. Ortega told News Five that only sugar roads in San Estevan and Patchakan are being […]
For the first time in history, there are three associations delivering cane to B.S.I. That is now legally possible because of amendments to the Sugar Industry Act pushed through by G.O.B. last Monday. Those amendments have been roundly criticized because one, there was no consultation with stakeholders and two…it is believed that the Act needs […]
Those amendments would probably not have come to pass without a legal claim by cane-farmer Wilfredo Magana way back in 2010. He and others petitioned the court to open up the industry and allow other associations to form and deliver cane to the factory. Magana was also on hand today for what he says is […]
The 2015 sugar cane crop season will get underway on Monday, January twenty-sixth at ten in the morning. The pronouncement came this afternoon after a lengthy session between all stakeholders in Orange Walk. It signals the official end of an impasse which almost destroyed the industry while seeing the emergence of two new Associations under […]
Linking Farmers to Tourism…the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, better known as IICA, is getting more involved in the development of the agro-productive sector in Belize. Today, at the Biltmore Plaza in Belize City, both public and private sector stakeholders came together to identify potential market linkages for agribusiness development focusing primarily on tourism. […]
Partnering with IICA are the Ministry of Natural Resources and Agriculture and the Organization of American States. Ambassador Starret Green says that while the linkages have already been established between both the agriculture and the tourism industries, there a many challenges that have stifled its success, specifically in terms of communication. Starret Green, […]
The B.S.C.F.A.’s Finance Committee Chairman, Javier Keme, has been in the forefront of the move to hold off on signing the agreement with ASR/B.S.I. It was an unsuccessful effort, largely because farmers could not stand in the face of very real economic hardships. The agreement has been signed, and all stakeholders now more towards the […]
The sugar crisis is a volatile one and has occupied the public conscious for months. On Sunday, the crisis came closer to resolution when the B.S.C.F.A. agreed to sign on with the millers, ASR/B.S.I. We’ll have that later in the newscast, but we go to this morning sitting of the House of Representatives in Belmopan. […]
