Clarke
Richard Morais, Freelance Writer
FALMOUTH, Trelawny:
THE GOVERNMENT is to intervene in the troubled sugar sector in Trelawny by taking over the sugar factories, according to Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke.
The Minister was addressing the large gathering at the Hague Agricultural Show in Trelawny on Wednesday. "We have a problem," the Minister told the audience.
"There are two rundown factories in Trelawny that are in total disarray. What the Government has done is to put a system in place where the two Trelawny factories will now come under the purview of the main Government-owned entity, the Sugar Company of Jamaica. They can now begin to get the kind of management and the kind of resources that is needed to keep them going while the final plans are put in place to rationalise the sugar industry in the parish."
He added, however, that sugar will not die in the parish and that the cane farmers would not perish. The Agriculture Minister also confirmed that one of the factories will be closed. "Production is not enough to maintain both, therefore one will ultimately have to closed," he said.
He declined to give the specific time but hinted that this year may well be the last time Trelawny will have two factories operating. The widespread speculation that Long Pond was the factory to be closed was neither confirmed nor denied by the Minister.
However, he stated that many factors will have to be taken into consideration before the final decision is taken.
Meanwhile, some private sector leaders in the parish are planning the building of a new state-of-the-art factory in the parish with the objective to reduce the cost per kilogramme of sugar. The private sector group is set to make a public announcement on February 21 in Falmouth.
