So, if the minister sounds like he's flip flopping - it's because he probably has to. The most inconvenient truth is that the labour intensive ago-industries in Belize - rely, to a large extent on undocumented labour - and, yes, in some cases, child labour. Even Maya King farm owner Johnny Zabaneh told that some (child laborers) may, quote, "slip through the cracks."
These labour irregularities persist because the pool of Central American immigrant labour is often desperate for any kind of income earning work - even under sub optimal conditions.
And, now, post covid - that pool of labour has become even more desperate - and they are trying to go north - meaning that the citrus farms have a smaller pool to choose from.
Johnny Zabaneh told us that the scarcity of labour and the rising costs of fuel and fertilizer could cause the already teetering industry - so long in decline - to finally crash. Mai says, not under his watch:
Courtney Menzies:
"Are we going to see the decline of the citrus industry here in Belize?"
Hon. Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"I hope not, especially under my ministry, under my watch. We inherited an industry which is really in ICU. We invested, right now, we have invested 15 million dollars or we are ready to invest 15 million dollars which is procured from the DFC to rehabilitate farms, the problem we have with labor is that we have to import labor. That's a sad thing when people say there are no jobs, we have to import labor. Very, very sad. Now, the Department of Immigration is trying to work that out. The situation with the 35 persons, I cannot discuss that because another ministry and department, I don't want to go down that way, but we are going to solve that problem. That is what our government does, this government solves problems."
Courtney Menzies:
"How will you solve the labor issue if Belizeans don't want to pick oranges and these farmers aren't harvesting the amount that they're used to?"
Hon. Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"In that case we have to import labor but it has to be done properly. We cannot have children laboring the fields and not only citrus, in the sugar cane industry too because you know there are conventions against child labor and so on and so we are signatories to these conventions and we must abide by them. Not only citrus, banana, sugar up north, so but we do have a problem with the availability of labor in the country and it's a sad thing. Mind you, it's not only us that go through this, the Costa Ricans import labor from Nicaragua, we import labor from Guatemala, the Americans import labor from Central America so it's not a strange thing, it's unfortunate, but it's not strange."
