Sugar’s scourge

Trinidad Islandwide Cane Farmers’ Association (TICFA’s) public relations officer, Lallan Rajaram believes people prefer to make "fast money" in construction rather than stay in the fields.

He is calling on Government to explore the free movement of agricultural labour throughout Caricom and thinks that the labour shortage could be solved with the implementation of the Caribbean Single Market & Economy.

"We are asking the Agriculture Minister or the Cabinet to look at the situation and see if they can speed up the process of allowing other people to enter the country to work in the fields," Rajaram said. He cited Guyana which had an abundant supply of persons who made a living in the canefields.

"I know farmers who had up to six and eight cutters last year, now only able to get one cutter this year because of the labour shortage,"

Rajaram said that the industry was also experiencing a rise in malicious cane fires throughout South Trinidad.

"Every day, since the start of good weather, there is an unplanned fire in the canefields. From Barrackpore, to Moruga, and Princes Town, all over," Rajaram said.

Farmers have not received a price increase for several years while having to shoulder the burden of increased labour, transportation and other costs, he argued.

He said farmers were also seeking a firm commitment from Government on the future survival of the sugar cane industry in light of next year’s phased price reduction by the European Union.

"Farmers are saying that if they cannot get a firm commitment about the future survival of the industry then the final option is a buyout of the farmers on par with what occurred with Caroni Limited," he said. But he reiterated the buy-out was a last resort, noting that it employs over 12,000 persons and was still a significant contributor to the economy.

He said the efficiency of the nation’s remaining sugar mill was also another source of concern, as last year’s cane to sugar ratio had reached an unacceptable high of 16 tonnes to one tonne of sugar.

The accepted cane-to-sugar ratio worldwide is between eight-11 tonnes to one tonne.

He said the national requirement of 75,000 tonnes of sugar could be easily attainable from the 600,000 tonnes of canes. According to an industry source, some 2,500 farmers have since left the industry because of its uncertainity.

Two separate companies - Sugar Manufacturing Company Limited (SMCL) and the Sugar Industry Team, were created to manage harvesting of canes and manufacture of sugar.

The growing aspect of the canes was left to the nation’s 6,000 plus farmers to produce an annual quota of 75,000 tonnes of sugar.

Three years later since the restructure, sugar production had plummetted for two consecutive years — 45,000 tonnes in 2004 and 33,000 tonnes in 2005.

Government has failed to articulate a workable policy for the restructuring of the industry, experts say.

Adding to the uncertainity is the fact that farmers are now working with one-year contracts, down from the minimum three-year guaranteed contracts.

Other woes include a chronic labour shortage, an unseasonally wet dry season over the past two years which pushed back the start of the crop by as much as three weeks.

The prevalence of malicious fires which wreaked havoc throughout the industry, resulted in hundreds of tonnes of canes being left to rot in the fields.

Meanwhile, All Trinidad Sugar & General Workers Trade Union, (ATS&GWTU), president general, Rudy Indarsingh, laid the problems plaguing the industry firmly at the feet of the present administration, saying Government had failed to map out a firm policy regarding the industry.

He said Government had promised to revitalise the industry to produce some 75,000 tonnes of sugar including an expanded cane farming community. "Just imagine, we only produce 33,000 tonnes of sugar last year and God alone knows how much we are going to produce this year," he said.

He said the time had come to re-examine what role the Usine Ste Madeleine sugar factory could play as a processing centre of the Caribbean.