Tonight, there is anxiety again in the north because for the third year in a row, the start of the sugar crop has been delayed. BSI and the smaller grower groups had planned for it to open on Monday, but once again, the dissatisfied Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association has nixed that plan. They say they want certain conditions to be met before the crop opens.
In a release ASR/BSI says it, quote, "register(s) its dissatisfaction with the Sugar Industry Control Board decision to delay the start of the 2023-24 crop."
They note that the BSCFA skipped a crop progress meeting a week ago - but BSI and the smaller groups agreed to start the crop on next Friday, December 15th.
They concluded that the start of the crop at its earliest was critical to prevent cane cutters moving to Mexico, where the crop has already started.
But, the Sugar Industry Control Board - with the support of government - instead decided to commence the crop on December 28th.
To this development, the BSI release angrily says, "Instances such as this, where government dictates operational decisions to a private sector industry in which it has no commercial interest, corroborate BSI's rationale for its legal challenge to parts of the antiquated Sugar Act which allows this type of intervention."
They add that delay in the start of crop is very likely to worsen the scarcity of plantation white sugar - which is a real problem all across Belize right now.
BSI stresses that the current sugar shortage is because the controlled price is too low - and Belizean sugar is being smuggled across to Mexico where it is sold for a higher price.
Those smaller groups who wanted the season to start next week is also put out a joint statement today registering dissatisfaction with the Sugar Industry Control Board, quote, "in the manipulated manner to deciding to approve the delay of the upcoming Sugar Cane Crop,,,."
They note that the change of dates will result in losses, quote "in the millions of dollars which cane farmers will not be able to recuperate ever..."
