Government can no longer sustain pumping close to $30 million annual into the sugar industry. And the end of the current season in April will trigger the commencement of a phased withdrawal by the state and the move towards promised privatisation. “In terms of the transitioning of the sugar industry to a private sector-owned industry, with no Government participation, for the end of this coming financial year that process should …
Scores of sugar workers are feeling uneasy as discussions surrounding the transition of the sugar industry from a public entity to a private enterprise continue, says president of the Sugar Industries Staff Association (SISA) Dwight Miller.Miller told Barbados TODAY that his constituents were concerned that the industry was not a lucrative one and once the transition was made it could threaten the employability of workers.“We had some talks at the end of December and [were] promised that talks would resume this month. I would hope we would be able to get those talks started again. In terms of the privatisation of the industry, people are thinking long-term in terms of the future of the industry and the conversations that we are having with management bear those concerns in mind, in terms of not only what would happen for this crop but what will happen after the crop and beyond.
Bridgetown, Jan 5 (Prensa Latina) The government of Barbados will gradually begin the promised privatization of the national sugar industry,at the end of the sugar harvest in April this year, an official source announced.
Although Government is yet to disclose the outcome of the sugar harvest which concluded in the first week of June, private sugar cane farmers are reporting that they produced 66 000 tonnes of sugar cane this year.In an interview with Barbados TODAY on Tuesday, Chairman of the Barbados Sugar Industry Limited (BSIL) Mark Sealy said while that was slightly less than what they reaped in 2021, they produced more cane per acre than last year.He said this improvement was a high point for the problem-plagued harvest that started late and resulted in thousands of canes rotting.“Within the constraints that we had for the crop, the private farmers did quite well. But we were disappointed that we started the crop a month late and that created a lot of rotten cane. Then, of course, the factory broke down for two weeks and then we also had two weeks of unseasonal rains. So you’re talking about two months basically where we could not cut cane,” he said.
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