UNDER NORMAL circumstances the search by principals of Worthy Park Sugar Estate for an additional 3,500 acres of land for the cultivation of sugar cane would be nothing of extraordinary interest. But the sugar industry in Jamaica is operating under anything but normal circumstances.
Acreages under cultivation have shrunk considerably over the last several decades leaving most of the country's former cane lands out of cultivation or in alternative use. Under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) free trade regime, preferential access to the European Union market will end, placing our more expensive sugar under severe pressure on the world market.
Yet in the face of the substantial difficulties facing the industry, Worthy Park must be commended for its eagerness to expand and seeing opportunity in the challenges. The estate is prepared to pump $140 million to put an additional 3,500 acres under cane if land can be found within reasonable distance of the Lluidas Vale factory so that transport costs do not become too high.
As chairman Peter McConnell sees it, the only way to survive the reduction of price from the EU is to bring down costs further by improving throughput and producing more sugar. The privately-owned Worthy Park Estate is already an industry leader for efficiency and lower production costs.
The sugar industry has always been important an employer and Worthy Park now employs some 700 persons directly. Another 400 persons would be employed with the planned expansion.
Worthy Park, accounting for 15 per cent of locally produced sugar, is not among the biggest of players but is a profitable enterprise. Chairman McConnell attributes the success of the estate to its management system. Those who own Worthy Park live on it and run it and are not absentee landlords, he said. Not all estate managers may find this a practical arrangement but the advantages should be carefully examined and adopted where possible.
The Jamaican sugar industry faces a dicey future and perhaps will not survive as an independent industry without increasing efficiency, reducing costs and diversifying products.
Worthy Park, which has been doing better than most, has joined the lead of Appleton in upgrading its operations in an industry which cannot expect to continue to survive on subsidies and preferential pricing.
It is significant that these privately owned and run sugar estates outpace the five other government run entities. Others should observe, learn and emulate the good practices that point to a turn around in the fortunes of the industry.
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