Hugh Martin
IT APPEARS that there is a growing number of persons who have come to accept as inevitable the imminent death of the sugar industry. This perception has been fed to a large extent by the recent WTO ruling against the European Union's Sugar regime. The challenge to the regime was mounted by Australia, Brazil and Thailand, sugar producing countries which felt it discriminated against them. The EU has not helped the situation either with its proposals to reduce by 37 per cent over three years the price it now pays for sugar. Even the most ardent supporter of the industry has had to concede that if this proposal is implemented as is and in July of 2005 as recommended, then it's time to sing, "Abide With Me".
A friend of mine, apparently converted to the view, teased me earlier this week with the question "After sugar, what?" It was at once an admission that sugar is finished and a challenge to identify alternatives. Well, I do not share the view that sugar is dead, nor do I believe that we can find a crop to replace the sugar cane. Numerous attempts have been made in the past to come up with a crop that could be grown on a large scale and provide the kind of returns that would equal or surpass sugar. All have come to naught whether it was soya, corn, sorghum, cattle or winter vegetables.
We could not produce any of those crops to compete with other countries on a sustainable basis. We have to a large extent been doing so with sugar even though some areas have in recent years become inefficient. The guaranteed market and reasonably good price negotiated with the European Union beginning with the Lome Convention in 1975, and later the Cotonou Agreement in 2000 have made sugar one of the safest crops to invest in.
WORLD MARKET PRICE
Interestingly, the price which obtains now has not changed much since 1975 when it was below the world market price. The world market price has fallen simply because of increased production by some large producers. In 1975 Brazil supplied that market with one million tonnes. Today that figure is closer to 13 million.
While the market will remain if the price suffers the massive cut that is proposed, things could become dicey for the less efficient players in the industry. That is why the Government has launched a massive lobby first of all to delay the implementation, and secondly, to reduce the size of the price reduction. Local critics have accused the lobby of going hat-in-hand to beg. That is nonsense and only displays ignorance of the facts. There is a treaty in place with guarantees which were signed by both sides. A review of the Agreement is due in 2006 with 2008 set for whatever changes are decided on. The proposal put to the Commission was done without any consultation with the other party to the Agreement, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries (ACP). The ACP therefore, has a right, indeed an obligation, to protest against this breach of a treaty made in good faith.
LOBBY
Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke and Ambassador Derrick Heaven, Executive Chairman of the Sugar Industry Authority (SIA) have been leading the lobby to the United Kingdom and Europe. Heaven was specially invited to address the European Parliament last week and judging from reports his presentation was well received.
At about the time he was speaking there an under secretary in the British government was paying a whirlwind visit here to observe some sugar communities. Before he left he declared that his eyes were opened to the plight of Jamaica's sugar industry, and its importance to the nation's economy, especially as it relates to rural development. This could be very useful to the cause come decision-making time.
So we're back to the question: "After sugar, what?" Well, new products, by-products and value- added to the raw material we've been supplying Europe over these past several centuries. It is late in the day, but the industry has begun to prepare itself for the next stage; exploiting the vast potential of the remarkable sugar cane plant. So the bagasse will provide electricity to run the plants and to sell to the national grid (Cogeneration). Ethanol as a fuel supplement will become an important product both for export and for local use. And at long last we will begin to refine the sugar for our own use. This means that a lot more cane than we are currently producing will be required. There is no 'after sugar' but there will definitely be 'more sugar' and a big sugar cane industry.
Hugh Martin is a
communication specialist and farm broadcaster who may
be reached at humar@
cwjamaica.com
