Clarke CANE FARMERS are being urged to work towards the reduction of production costs in the sugar industry.
According to a release from the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), Minister of Agriculture Roger Clarke made the call in a recent address to the Vere Cane Farmers Association in Claren-don. In working to reduce the cost of production they would, he said, help ensure the survival of the sugar industry.
He said, "We have a responsibility to make the industry survive and I believe that it can survive but we have to grow the sugar right."
Mr. Clarke was speaking on January 18 at the annual general meeting of the association at the St. Gabriel Anglican Church Hall in Clarendon.
He told the farmers that if the industry is to become competitive, the unit cost of production, which now stood at 30 cents per pound, would have to be reduced to about 18 cents which was now the going price for sugar on the world market.
The Minister pointed to several areas in which efficiency could be achieved, including the full utilisation of cane lands to increase tonnage per hectare. He said that he knew of widespread practices where cane stalks were planted far apart and lands were under-utilised.
He stressed that planting, irrigation, weeding and harvesting practices had to be carried out at the right time to reduce losses per hectare.
The Agriculture Minister also highlighted the necessity for unity among the farmers to ensure that labour was employed at maximum efficiency and that labour costs were consistent throughout the country.
A technical team had been put together to review the various studies carried out in the sugar industry to establish its viability. Mr. Clarke said that the revitalisaion of the industry would have to include efforts from the political parties, the Sugar Industry Authority, the Planning Institute of Jamaica, the Development Bank of Jamaica, the Cane Farmers Association and the trade unions.
Mr. Clarke stressed that the sugar industry was vital to the economy of the country and its demise would affect about a quarter of the population, including haulage contractors, producers of weedicides, business operators and people who used by products such as molasses and rum.
