The Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association and BSI/ASR have been at an impasse for some weeks now and when La Zafra quickly approaching, the government has finally decided to step in decisively. They are suggesting that both parties keep the current commercial agreement for the next six months while they act as sort of a mediator between them. He explained more today.
Hon. John Briceno - Prime Minister
"The sugar industry is one of the most important industries in the country and especially for us in the north, it's a live or die situation when it comes to the sugar industry. If the sugar industry was to crash in the north, it's going to be catastrophic, worse than a hurricane. The BSCFA has been under long negotiations with BSI and it seems that they are at an impasse and the crop is suppose to be starting sometime this month in December. We have record number of cane on the ground, we have over 1.3 million tons of cane and so we cannot afford one day of delay in opening up the factory. Taking that in mind and seeing that there is an impasse between the two parties, government decided that we want to meet with both parties, that we are prepared to be the honest brokers between the cane farmers and the factory BSI-ASR and to see how best we can come to an agreement. I know that the cane farmers association are proposing a new payment scheme and BSI are saying probably that they don't want to change that scheme, so as honest brokers we're not here to tell them which one is suppose to work, what we need to do is the sugar industry is a regulated industry and because it is a regulated industry then we believe that we need to step in to work with both parties to see how we can have an agreement that is going to benefit everyone, the farmers and also benefits BSI."
Reporter
"What happens if one or the other doesn't not agree, what happens then?"
Hon. John Briceno
"Well I don't foresee that happening but whenever that happens, we would then have to take whatever step is necessary to keep this industry going."
