The All-Island Cane Farmers Association has slammed the Government’s decision to close the Bernard Lodge and Long Pond sugar factories and has vowed to fight to prevent any closure.
“Since Long Pond and Bernard Lodge are not viable, and since there is no secure future, give the factories to us and we will show the Prime Minister and the Government what can be done with proper management at factories, the Association’s chairman Alan Rickards said yesterday. “Because we would be able to access the financing possible.”
Mr. Rickards said Brazilian entities had expressed an interest in partnering with the farmers to run the sugar factories as a business.
Addressing a press conference held to discuss the sugar plan announced by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson in Parliament on Tuesday, he described the Government’s decision as premature and unwise. He said the Government did not yet know the required level of production that was needed to satisfy the manufacturer of by-products such as molasses and ethanol. He said the country would have to be growing enough cane to produce at least 300,000 tonnes of sugar to adequately supply export and local demands and produce ethanol.
“What you have done is you have told those farmers to stop producing, there is no way you are going to get a farmer to be producing cane of any quality or to go into expense,” Mr. Rickards argued.
According to him, the Government went against all the recommendations of stakeholders not to close the factories. He also discounted suggestions by the Prime Minister that all the stakeholders had been consulted on the way forward for the industry.
Andrew Wright, the All-island Cane Farmers Association’s representative for Bernard Lodge, questioned the Government’s decision to close the factory since it was the factory with the largest milling capacity and capability to produce ethanol. He said the factory has in fact produced ethanol before.
Delroy Anderson, vice-chairman and farmer at Long Pond, said the news of the impending closure was devastating. “It was like you have a death in the family when I heard the news of Long Pond,” he said.
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