As we told you earlier, there is news to report not only from the farmers, but also from ASR/B.S.I., and it is fairly monumental. Early this morning two associations outside the auspices of the B.S.C.F.A. signed on to deliver cane. The signing comes on the heels of a release from B.S.I. on Wednesday stating that they had gotten commitments from farmers amounting to a preliminary four hundred thousand tons of cane, and expected to get the crop underway soon. Without the luxury of time to spare, they didn’t wait long to ink deals with the United Cane Farmers Association and the Corozal Sugar Cane Producers Association.
Mac Maclachlan, Vice President, International Relations, B.S.I.
“We are here this morning to sign an agreement with that association as B.S.I. which we hope will be one step in securing sufficient cane supplies to enable us to start the 2015 crop.”
Belizario Carballo
Belizario Carballo, Financial Controller, B.S.I.
“It is a historic occasion. I think it marks the start of what we hope and expect to be a very productive, constructive partnership with the Corozal Sugar Cane Producers Association as a recognised player, new stakeholder in the sugar industry of Belize. This process in fact was initiated by the gentleman here to my left, Mister Willie Magaña, who heads the United Cane Farmers Association, which we understand has sort of partnered with the Corozal Sugar Cane Producers Association in this current initiative. But Mister Magaña had in fact initiated the process with the United Cane Farmers Association along with Mister Vicente Canul from Corozal in challenging the exclusivity of the just one association at the time. It started back in 2008 and culminated with the consent order in 2010 which essential opened and provided the opportunity for new associations and for in fact individual farmers to remain un-associated and to be able to be recognised as players in the industry. That what was started then and what was in fact a right that was confirmed at the time—which is a constitutional right—that farmers have, that we all have, the freedom to associate; that is now part of the new reality of the sugar industry of Belize. Going forward, we will be seeing other players be part of the industry. It signals a new beginning for the industry in terms of opportunities for collaboration, for working together between producers, cane farmers producing cane and the millers producing sugar.”
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