And from the Lobster industry, we turn now to the sugar industry in the north, where one of the four cane farming associations is expressing alarm that dangerous items are being delivered to the BSI/ASR's Tower Hill Factory.
A week ago, BSI/ASR, made a post on their Facebook page alerting farmers and the general public that someone had delivered parts of an old bicycle as part of their cane deliveries. The company has already pointed out that objects like these cause severe damage to the mill's machinery and equipment. That causes hours of mill stoppage, which then reduces productivity. The repairs are also costly to the company, and the lost time hurts the farmers who can't deliver their cane on time.
A few hours ago, the Management of the Corozal Sugar Cane Producers Association sent out a press release expressing concern that 2-gallon containers of the toxic herbicide, Gramoxone, were found in one of the deliveries to the mill.
In their press release, the Association said quote, "The CSCPA views this as very alarming on the basis that such chemical material is included in the prohibited material listing and now prohibited under the hazardous material listing of Fairtrade International Criteria. The CSCPA …would like to express that such actions can be the cause to create a very unfortunate situation with our major development partner… The entire industry certification agreement and status can be jeopardized and even be exposed to the entire country's sugar industry Fairtrade commitment under certification, either to be suspended or to be decertified." End quote.
On Wednesday, Our colleagues from CTV3 News asked the Agriculture Minister about these extraneous materials making it into cane deliveries, and here's what he had to say:
Hon. Jose Mai - Minister of Agriculture, Food Security & Enterprise
"I hope that whatever foreign material goes into the mill is not intentional. I really hope so, but I'm not certain that is the case. I'll be very disappointed to know if farmers are trying to sabotage the mill. Sabotaging the mill is like sabotaging the farmer himself. It's not a good practice. It's bad for business. It's bad for the industry. I understand today, that they found 2 gallons of, I think, paraquat or something in the cane trucks harvested with a harvester. I understand. I looked at the reports. That is bad news, having a certain herbicide loaded into the truck, and it entered the billeted cane, or the operational index, I think. And that is bad news. It's not good, and I would discourage every farmer not do that if it's being done intentionally."
In other news about the sugar industry, yesterday, BSI/ASR announced that due to the inclement weather conditions from that weather system we told you about earlier, the mill's pause on operation will be extended.
