The Ministry of Agriculture has confirmed that the destruction of vegetation in Valley of Peace by Green Tropics back in mid-March was as the result of the use of the herbicide, Roundup. The samples of vegetables including cabbage, tomato and pepper were sent abroad for testing by the ministry. The Valley of Peace Farmers Association […]
The destruction of a sprawling acreage of farmland in Valley of Peace by crop-dusting in mid-March has resulted in a significant loss for growers in that community. While it was initially suspected that scores of vegetables, including cabbage, tomato and pepper were destroyed by what is believed to have been a chemical compound known as […]
Today, hundreds of cane-farmers and sugar industry stakeholders joined dignitaries and government officials to officially open SIRDI’s news headquarters. The Sugar Industry Research and Development Institute was created in 2009, and since then has had tremendous impact on the industry. The building was financed by the European Union, and will enhance SIRDI’s ability to reach […]
The challenges to the industry have been many, natural and man-made. But Osorio says that in just five years SIRDI has made giant strides in the industry. Perhaps the greatest challenge has been persuading farmers to adapt new, innovative best practices. That remains an obstacle, but Osorio says that even that is much less of […]
It has been almost a month since a little over thirty-five acres of vegetables were destroyed in the Valley of Peace community. The destruction, it is strongly believed, is the result of crop dusting conducted by Green Tropics Limited, a foreign concern which manages a vast swath of farmland nearby. In the wake of the […]
Green Tropics, a Spanish company involved in sugar cane cultivation, is accused of conducting aerial spraying in the Valley of Peace community which is the main supplier of vegetables in the Cayo area. The spraying has caused destruction of acres of vegetables but today after weeks of uncertainty, the vegetables farmers received some good news […]
Aerial sparing carried by the Spanish company, Green Tropics, has caused the destruction of about a million dollars in crop in thirty-two farms in the Valley of Peace area. As we reported on Friday, Green Tropics carried out the spraying on March fifteenth; it is the same company that grazed several acres of the Jaguar […]
About a million dollars in vegetables have been destroyed in the Valley of Peace area, Cayo District. The community is the largest provider of vegetables to two districts, but the farmers have lost their crops due to crop-dusting. Green Tropics, the controversial company which grazed land in the Laboring Creek Jaguar Corridor Wildlife Sanctuary in […]
After two weeks of carefully ironing out the details on the proposed way forward in the embattled citrus industry, Prime Minister Dean Barrow held a press conference this morning, where he presented the content of a memorandum of understanding signed by various stakeholders, including the Social Security Board, the Citrus Growers Association and Banks Holdings […]
The 2013-2014 Sugar Cane Crop Season got off to a late start this past Friday after months of delay. The cane farmers and the Belize Sugar Industries were at odds since September of last year after the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association walked away from the negotiation table when B.S.I. refused to entertain any discussions […]
While the sugar industry is up and running, there is trouble in the citrus industry tonight after a delay of payment to growers by the Citrus Products of Belize Limited. The payment is only a week late at this point, but there is concern over the future, since CPBL is in somewhat of a cash […]
Smoke billowed from the mills at the Tower Hill Factory. Long and at last, at ten this morning, delivery of sugar cane began in earnest. The 2014 season is delayed by eight weeks and the horrible road conditions are making a very bad situation worse for farmers who are unable to access their cane fields. […]
Cane-farmers will meet on Sunday to discuss the way forward, and tonight that road is uncertain. On Wednesday the BSCFA submitted an interim agreement to the B.S.I. The first point on that agreement was a commitment by B.S.I. to pay for bagasse. B.S.I. took that agreement to make some modifications, and today it was sent […]
The BSCFA and B.S.I. will go back to the negotiating table in Orange Walk on Wednesday afternoon. With one week to go before the imposed deadline of January fifteenth, time is running out for all parties. After a meeting last week, the eighteen branch representatives of the BSCFA voted to bring B.S.I. in to talk […]
Today representatives of the eighteen branches of the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association met in Orange Walk. The only item on the agenda for today’s session was a look at the letter sent by B.S.I. on December thirty-first and the formulation of a response. The response will be to invite BSI back to the table, […]
According to Ortega, the Prime Minister has told the BSCFA that if negotiations break down he would be willing to intercede. Well, for all intents and purposes negotiations have crumbled, but how practical is it to expect that the Prime Minister will intercede to coerce B.S.I. to make a firm, written commitment to farmers. The […]
And even as the gods seem to be frowning on the crop season, with more rain, less sucrose, impassable roads and the bagasse impasse prevailing, there is more bad news. Unofficial indications are that there has been some equipment malfunction at B.S.I., which would make milling at this time impossible, even if everything else had […]
Tonight there is good news for farmers in the Belize District, affected by incessant rains resulting in widespread flooding. That flooding has caused damage of agriculture products, as well as pasture loss, decreased livestock production and increased pests and disease. In a release issued earlier, the Department of Agriculture committed to provide assistance in the […]
Tonight the 2013-2014 sugarcane crop season appears to be in real jeopardy. Both the B.S.I. and the BSCFA have returned to the discussion table, thanks to intervention by government, but there is still a fundamental sticking point. And that sticking point is a dozy. The BSCFA isn’t budging until B.S.I. signs an agreement to pay […]
Up north, the sugar industry remains at a standstill. This Sunday, cane-farmers from all eighteen branches in the north assembled at the Escuela Secundaria Tecnica Mexico to receive an update from the BSCFA, and to provide the association with a mandate for the days ahead in respect of a proposed deal with B.S.I. on bagasse. […]
The condition of the sugar roads is affecting not only cane-farmers, but commuters in general. After a week of alternate cold and dry spells, the rains returned with a vengeance, wreaking havoc on critical roads in the sugar network. On the Petville road, just outside Orange Walk Town, the deterioration is such that only tractors […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow met with representatives of ASR and BSI in Belize City on Monday. Local stakeholders in the industry are awaiting word from ASR which will dictate the next move forward. GOB is in the cane-farmers’ corner – but only where the demand for payment for the use of bagasse is concerned. And […]
With only six days to go for the scheduled opening of the sugar crop, there is no resolution yet or in sight, for that matter, in the standoff between cane farmers and the Belize Sugar Industries. This afternoon, Prime Minister Dean Barrow, at the request of the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association, met with representatives […]
There are five thousand three hundred registered cane-farmers in northern Belize. They are divided into eighteen branches which all operate under the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association. On Sunday, a significant portion of those farmers were at the Escuela Secundaria Tecnica Mexico auditorium in San Roman for a general meeting. On the agenda were financial […]
Five thousand three hundred sugar cane farmers from the Orange Walk and Corozal Districts are determined to go on strike as early as this coming Monday, November twenty-fifth. That is the day on which the mill at the Belize Sugar Industry will be ready to start production in the new crop season, but a strike […]
