Last week we told you all about the Prime Minister's pitch to the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association: accept a million dollars in assistance with fertilizers in exchange for dropping their 11 million dollar lawsuit against Tate and Lyle Sugars and BSI.
Well, on Sunday the BSCFA Committee of Management took that divisive proposition to their general membership and it was soundly rejected.
The Meeting was held at ESTM School in San Roman village where about three quarters of the farmers assembled voted to continue with the lawsuit and reject the PM's proposal.
Vice Chairman Fred Ortega discussed it with CTV-3:
Alfredo Ortega, Vice Chairman, Committee of Management
"Yesterday the leadership went to present to the farmers what was put on the table or proposal that was put on the table by Tate and Lyle, ASR and also BSI. Both of them on which they are proposing a settlement agreement on which they are asking the farmers to drop the case to abandon the fair-trade premium. But also what was tricky on it, or what is tricky on it is that on the proposal that they have set forward to the BSCFA is that once we sign that no group, no director, no other people coming on the future will have the ability or the opportunity to renegotiate this issue again. So once we sign, we abandon that. But they are not giving us anything and based on that the proposal also came together with the proposal of the government of the office of the Prime Minister - which his proposal was to grant us $500,000 and then another $500,000 -but also asking us to drop the case and to abandon the case. And the farmers were not happy with that so the farmers yesterday voted no. We don't want that to happen, we want to continue in court and let the court decide what will be the outcome of the case. So that is what the farmers approved yesterday."
We'll keep following it to see where it goes next.
