By Cedric Johnson, Gleaner WriterSAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland:
ILLICIT FIRES continue to raze several Westmoreland cane fields including those owned by the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) almost weekly, but no one has taken up the $100,000 reward offered by the Company through Crime Stop to provide information on the arsonists.
"It is difficult to point a finger, more over to convict anyone for the illicit burning of sugar cane," Astill Sangster, Chairman of the West End Cane Farmers' Association told The Gleaner on Sunday.
As at February 15, some 181,000 tonnes or 63 per cent of all the canes milled at the Frome Sugar Factory were burnt - 22,640 tonnes of which were scorched in just six days - but overall some 15,000 tonnes of canes have been destroyed by fire.
"One of the serious problems arising from the incidents of the illicit burning of canes is that the factory is now being choked with an oversupply of the produce," said Mr. Sangster. According to him, the Frome factory can accommodate 6,000 tonnes of cane per day, but due to the frequent cane fires, it was being forced to accept up to 11,000 tonnes some of which were burnt cane.
In the meantime, Roland Walters, the assistant superintendent of the Westmoreland fire department said that since the start of the year, the department has extinguished more than 50 cane fires.
"This has been putting the (fire) service under severe strain," he said.
