And tonight the Minister of Agriculture is supporting the four sugar cane farmer associations - who came together earlier this week for an unprecedented joint statement declaring a crisis in the sugar industry.
They made proposals for areas that they say need immediate government intervention, namely approving increases in the price of Molasses, Domestic Sugar, and Electricity Generation from Bagasse.
Today, Agriculture Minister Jose Mai says he supports two of those three suggestions:
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"What surprised me is that the four associations, I think for the first time, have come together to a issue a joint release, which makes me believe that Force majeure, the financial crisis that the cane farmers are going through is serious. And this goes beyond the politics of sugarcane farming, it is now affecting the livelihoods of the cane farmers, and as such then they must have realized that guess what, we better we stick together or we die together."
"But one of the recommendations was to increase the price of molasses to those who are the rum makers of this country. We've always heard that rum, this small bottle of rum, I don't what they call it, we've always heard in cabinet that rum is destroying the families of the Belizean people, right, because it is so affordable, so cheap that you can buy it with a dollar or two dollars."
"And I've heard the concerns in cabinet over and over again, rum is destroying the families. So the recommendations from the Commission on Inquiry was to increase the price of molasses that is used for distilling purposes to make alcohol."
"The other recommendation was to increase the price of sugar, both by 65 percent and that of the 65 percent, no, increase the price of sugar, and that 65 percent of the increase should go towards the field to, what do you call it, that should be invested in the field, right, of the balance then of the shared 65/35 with the miller and the producer."
"Again, I don't know that will fly. It has to be discussed with the miller. Some people say you should not raise the price of sugar. We have the cheapest sugar in the entire region. As a matter of fact, we are not even recovering what we invest with the price of the sugar."
"We are producing, we are selling at a cheaper price than what it costs us to produce sugar, which is absolute nonsense, no one can survive like that. So the farmers have been subsidizing the general public with sugar."
"The increase in price in sugar will not affect the consumers significantly. Why? Because our per capita. In other words, the amount of sugar each person consumes is very little."
And while the Minister agrees with the increase in the price of molasses and sugar, he says increasing the price of electricity generated with bagasse by Belcogen is a non-starter. Here's his explanation:
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"That would have to go to the PUC, but when you would increase the price of energy, you put a direct cost on the energy consumers in the country. And so that would have to be studied. I do not know if that's the best thing to do, because you would have to raise the price of energy to the consumers, and I don't think that we are prepared to do that yet."
