All this week, we've been taking you to BSI's Tower Hill Factory. The season started with optimism on Monday morning but by Tuesday evening - it had been blocked by cane trucks from the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association.
Tonight, we can report that those cane trucks have finally been moved - after both sides agreed to a compromise this evening.
The best information reaching our newsroom tonight is that Prime Minister John Briceno finally managed to facilitate a breakthrough today to end the blockade of the entire industry.
The Prime Minister had allegedly been promising the farmers to come through with this intervention since yesterday, but we are informed that his efforts finally started meeting success this morning. That's when the millers, ASR/BSI, agreed in principle to an interim agreement that will extend all the way to August of next year.
After a review by the attorneys for both sides, they agreed to the final draft. We are informed that the leadership of the BSCFA made a request that representatives of ASR/BSI meet them at the entrance of the Tower Hill compound for the signing of this contract.
Reportedly, that request was denied, and instead, the millers requested that farmers remove all of their cane trucks that have been blocking delivery operations for several days now. Then and only then would they send out their signed copy of the interim agreement to finalize the process and get signatures from the BSCFA leadership.
Late this evening, those trucks were removed, and in the presence of police and ministers of government, the BSCFA leaders signed the contract, which officially ends the stand-off.
Tonight, there are small victories to celebrate all around, as we enter the New Year Holiday weekend.
Next, the BSCFA gets to celebrate their multi-day protest as a victory, since they were able to oblige the millers to move from a hardline rejection of an interim agreement to a newly signed document.
But, among the losers are the 3 smaller cane farming associations whose membership will suffer losses due to the day in a fight that they had no involvement in or control over. Next, we understand that the millers feel bruised by the outcome because basically, they were strong-armed into the interim agreement. We understand they relented out of concern for their staff's safety in this unrest, and concern for stakeholders and their investment, which is rapidly depreciating. We understand that the Ministry of Finance also signed an indemnity letter for the BSCFA in the event that the other associations or the millers want to sue them for loss of revenue due to the one week delay.
Knowledgeable persons have shared concerns with us about the quality of the cane in the ground, as well as all those tonnes of cane that have been sitting in those trucks for days now.
