B’dos sugar at death’s door

Convinced that sugar is no longer profitable, a Government agency in Barbados has started trials on a new variety of cane for use in the generation of electricity. Word of this has come from Minister of Agriculture, Senator Erskine Griffith, who in an article published in the Barbados Daily Nation, said that the Government is keen on the possibilities offered by a variety of cane known as fibre cane. In an effort to solidify plans for the future of the industry, the Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC) has leased ten acres of land at Golden Ridge, St George to grow the variety and to undertake trials on its possible use. “The BAMC is working on that as we speak. What has also been suggested is not that we stop growing canes or making sugar but that we look at different ways of dealing with it,” he explained. Asked whether this move was an indication that Government had accepted that sugar production in Barbados could come to end, the minister responded: “You could say there is an acceptance that the sugar industry as we know it may not exist in a few years. All the indications suggest that we may not be but we need the evidence to suggest what we should do. “The intention behind these trials that we are planning now is to provide us with evidence about where we go and how we need to get there.”

According to the agriculture minister: “We are proposing to get a small plant to do some trials to be satisfied that the plant is going to work. That is going to be done in the coming months.” He added: “If that works, it will help to influence how we deal with the issue of manufacturing of sugar in the future.” Last week, Brazil, Australia and Thailand made a formal request to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for the establishment of Dispute Resolution Panel to hear their complaint against the European Union’s (EU) sugar regime. The EU regime provides subsidies to European beet sugar producers, while the EU pays Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) cane sugar producers, who include many former British colonies, the same price it pays EU producers. Australia, Thailand and Brazil, the world’s largest producers of sugar, claim the EU regime serves to keep the world market price of sugar down and contravenes WTO rules.