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Two New Growers Groups Sign Contracts With BSI/ASR
posted (January 15, 2015)
Tonight, it's official, after months of back and forth, two new Cane Farmers groups have officially entered into contracts with BSI/ASR.

The first to sign was the Corozal Cane Producers Association - which has teamed up with the United Cane Farmers Association. United is the first group that challenged the Cane Farmers Association's monopoly on membership back in 2009 - and got a Supreme Court Declaration to say that by their constitutional right to freedom of association, they could form their own growers association distinct from the BSCFA. Today at BSI's Boardroom in Orange Walk, Willie Magana who led that charge then said today's signing was historic:...

Willie Magana, United Cane Farmers Association
"I am very pleased to be a part of this historical day. I think this is a dream that started way back in 2008 or maybe long before. I've been hearing that they are blaming the Prime Minister for dividing the association, but I think we were divided long before 2008 and that was one of the reasons why myself and 4 other colleagues took the sugar act to the supreme court because it has compel us to belong to one group even though they were doing so bad, but we had to be under that group and for some time we were kind of being discourage. But today's vision was what maintained us together to be able to go there to the end."

Belizario Carballo, Financial Controller, B.S.I.
"Indeed it is a historic occasion. I think it marks the start of what we hope and expect to be a very productive, constructive partnership with the Corozal Cane Producers Association as a recognized player and new stakeholder in the sugar industry of Belize. It will be a new beginning for the industry in terms of opportunities for collaboration for working together between producers, cane farmers producing cane and the miller producing sugar."

Elvis Canul, Chairman - Corozal Sugar Cane Producers Association
"Today is a historic day where the pioneers of this may not see it, but our children will have the opportunity to benefit from these changes that are being made today. And today marks a new beginning for our farmers and we commit with them that we will be at the very most forefront for their benefit in the work of the industry. Currently we have a registered list of new cane farmers that have joined this association with approximately 300 members of cane farmers and approximately tonnage of 100,000 tonnes total."

Belizario Carballo, Financial Controller, B.S.I.
"We are in the process right now of signing up agreements with groups of farmers. The Corozal Cane Producers is an association of farmers, but we are also signing up with groups of farmers, individual farmers and when we reach that requisite tonnage as we have said before, we will get together with those who we have signed with to determine the start of crop and as part of that, certainly the SPPC, the SICB will be involved. They have a role to play and we certainly on the basis of how much and how that grouping of farmers is structured - we will need to determine how the actual delivery arrangements will work. It's something that we will have to work closely with SPPC to sort out."

Mac McLachlan, Vice President, International Relations - ASR Group
"We said all along we need to get to a requisite tonnage signed to ensure that we have sufficient throughput to ensure that the crop could start and continue and we are in the process of signing up with individual groups and the farmers are signing those contracts as we speak."

Belizario Carballo, Financial Controller, B.S.I.
"The trigger point will be getting that tonnage - that quantum which will make the operation of the mill viable. Once we have that tonnage secured and we are able to them come up with delivery arrangements, that shouldn't take long for us to be able to them start the crop."

And by this evening at 5:00 pm, another, larger group had signed with BSI/ASR. That is the Progressive Sugar Cane Producers, with growers from Patachakan, San Estevan and Guinea Grass. They have a combined three hundred thousand tonnes of production. That is significant because, added to the one hundred thousand tonnes from the Corozal group this morning, it comes up to four hundred thousand tonnes - and when you add BSI's one hundred thousand plus tonnes that they have in their fields - it breaks the five hundred thousand tonne minimum that is needed to start the mill.

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