Cedric Johnson, Gleaner WriterSAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland:
LESS THAN one week before the start of the 2004-2005 sugar crop at Frome, Westmoreland, cane farmers are disputing the rate being demanded by haulage contractors to transport their harvest.
The contractors are demanding a 45 per cent increase which would see farmers paying $366.85 instead of the current $253 for each ton of cane hauled from the fields to the factory. But according to the farmers, such an increase would be impossible.
INCREASE TOO HIGH
"We cannot afford the type of increase they are demanding," said Astill Sangster, chairman of the West End Cane Farmers Association.
At an emergency general meeting in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, on Saturday, cane farmers in the parish mandated the West End Cane Farmers Association to begin negotiations with the contractors to arrive at an agreed rate.
Meanwhile, there are indications that the increase being considered by the association will be less than 25 per cent. Responding to a suggestion from Neville Gordon, a cane farmer, that the contractors receive an increase between 25 and 30 per cent, Mr. Sangster said that would be much too generous.
WILLING TO NEGOTIATE
Cynthia Sankar, president of the Westmoreland Contrators' Association, said on Thursday that while the association was proposing a 45 per cent increase, it was willing to negotiate with the cane farmers. However, she said the final figure would have to reflect rising fuel costs, as well as other expenses such as labour and motor vehicle parts.
"Over the past few weeks, tyres have gone up by 100 per cent ... This is a massive increase," she said.
But the cane farmers are maintaining that with the increase in production costs it would be difficult to contemplate paying the haulage contractors significantly more to transport cane to from the fields to the factory.
The 2004/05 sugar crop at Frome begins on Tuesday.
