7 News Belize

Sugar Standoff Finally Over
posted (January 19, 2015)
The sugar standoff is officially over - this morning at 11:00 am at BSI Headquarters in Orange Walk - the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association became the third and last association to sign a commercial contract with BSI. So, deliveries of cane to the mill can start possibly as early as next Monday January 26th. At the signing this morning in the BSI boardroom - the mood was cordial, considering how tense and acrimonious it had become over the past two months. There was also relief because the largest growers group which is the still the BSCFA signed on, bringing with it three thousand plus farmers - more than half of the 5,500 farmers in the north. After the signatures were affixed to the documents, the press from the north got an opportunity to speak with the cane farmers from BSCFA and factory owners. Mac McLachlan, ASR's Vice President of International Relations, conceded to the media that both sides have conceded quite a lot in the past few weeks to get to today's signing:

Mac McLachlan, Vice President, International Relations - ASR Group
"When we have an agreement like this, nobody is going to have one hundred percent happiness. Everybody make compromises to get us to this point. I think it's fair to say that the vast majority of us now want to move forward, want to as Mr. Cansino have said before in the past, turn the page, move forward and really get on with the business of discussing what this industry needs to do in order to become sustainable and profitable for all stakeholders, including all caneros in Belize, so I think as far as we move forward, as I say we won't all the be happy all the time, but I think we have a good consensus on the way to move forward."

With the signing of a 7 year contract, it brings to an end over a year of negotiations and two months of serious instability in the industry. There should be peace for at least a year when all sides are supposed to sit down and develop a strategic development plant. After that, if the farmers don't like it, they can opt out after three years.

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