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 by farmers means that there will be nothing to mill. The issue is bagasse, a by-product of the sugar-cane delivered by farmers. BELCOGEN converts bagasse into energy which it sells to B.E.L. It’s a lucrative arrangement and farmers want a piece of it, since they actually provide the material which makes millions of dollars for BELCOGEN. This critical issue is, for farmers, a sticking point as they renegotiate a longstanding cane purchase agreement with B.S.I. and its majority owners, American Sugar Refining Limited. All parties were to meet on Garifuna Settlement Day to deal with the cane purchase agreement, but the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association, which represents cane-farmers, opted out of the meeting. So with only five days before the start of the crop season, what are the odds of that actually happening? Mike Rudon was in the Sugar City today for an update.
Mike Rudon, Reporting
These mountains of bagasse have become the rock-solid sticking points in the renegotiation of a cane purchase agreement between BSCFA and B.S.I. The contention is clear-cut. Cane-farmers want a share of the profit made when this bagasse is converted into energy and sold. BSI disagrees. At a meeting proposed for Tuesday, BSCFA wanted a concrete resolution of the bagasse impasse to be front and center on the agenda – the sole agenda item, in fact. B.S.I. disagreed. So the BSCFA did not attend the meeting. BSCFA Vice-Chairman Alfredo Ortega says that the mandate from the farmers is clear – if the bagasse issue is not resolved, they will not budge to deliver cane.
Alfredo Ortega
Alfredo Ortega, Vice-Chairman, Committee of Management, BSCFA
“That is the mandate that we have received from the farmers…and this has not come only from yesterday. That came from years ago that the farmers had placed that responsibility upon us. And lately we had two meetings – one in Orange Walk on the second of November and on the tenth of November we had a divisional meeting in Corozal and in both divisions the farmers had already reiterated that we don’t sign anything and that they won’t start any crop if we have not finalized the negotiations including the bagasse.”
According to Ortega, there is no indication that the farmers would be willing to capitulate on their determination to share the profits of the bagasse.
Alfredo Ortega
“I see that the farmers are really engaged and they are prepared to continue their support of the administration because they know for a fact that there is a benefit that B.S.I. is enjoying at this point in time – a full one hundred percent of the byproduct of the sugarcane and that is why the farmers are committed that we should be getting a portion of that benefit.”
Leonardo Cano
Leonardo Cano, Chairman, Committee of Management, BSCFA
“The problem is that on the payment of the bagasse the farmers say that they work hard for that and they think that they could benefit from a part of the money for the bagasse. They say that they are not investing in BELCOGEN, but they are investing in their fields and they work hard for that.”
In the very short term the BSCFA will be resending a letter to the Chairman of the Sugar Industry Control Board asking for intervention. We say resend because Ortega says they sent one two weeks ago and got no response. They will also send a letter to the DPM since he is the Minister of Agriculture. If there is no response, then decisions will be made at a general cane-farmers’ meeting set for Sunday, November twenty-fourth – and strike action will be one of the options on the table for discussion.
Alfredo Ortega
“Really we wouldn’t want to reach to that point. That is why we have been asking to B.S.I., we have been pleading to them to come let us negotiate and be clear on this and let us finalize in as fruitful and friendly a way as possible the situation. And it is not happening. At this point in time we have had the farmers controlled with the information we have been giving them. On the twenty-fourth I don’t know what will happen. At this point like I said we have certain control in regards to how we are maneuvering things and giving information to the farmers. But if things don’t come as soon as possible, clear, I really can’t say what will happen afterwards.”
The BSCFA says that all it wants is the chance to come to the table and resolve this situation with the bagasse, and from there they can deal with any other situation in regards to start of crop or state of sugar roads. Mike Rudon for News Five.
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