And while Chavarria is counting on the state to keep everyone safe, Patt says in his opinion, ASR/BSI crossed a line when it sent out Friday's release inviting BSCFA members to bypass their association and make deliveries as individual farmers:
Hugo Patt, UDP Deputy Leader
"I think that something like that should never have been, should never have happened. A suggestion to that nature should never have come through. However, given the demands of the nature and the cycle of sugar cane, I think BSI has reached the point of saying, look, we need to start."
"I mean, certainly they have some deadlines to meet in terms of their contracts for the supply of sugar and so forth, and their economic demands as well, just as the farmers. And so that it reaches a point in time when BSI will say, look, we need to get this start of a crop, now, and from there we move."
"The best possible scenario would have been for them to sit down together and say, look, let us leave all our differences aside. It is not going to be easy because of the economic interest. Certainly BSI does not want to, if at any point in time you have to understand that if BSI yields to any additional payment to one association, BSI will have to give to the others automatically."
"And so that is the position that they have. And BSCFA is insisting on their position saying we want additional payments for this and for that, so that it becomes an economic battle. It's not the best scenario, but here we are, and this is where I believe that the government has to step in and say, look, let us get the crop going, whatever needs to be done at the level of a negotiation between these two entities, let that apart and from there we move on."
