Gareth Manning, Gleaner Writer
Roger Clarke, Minister of Agriculture, at yesterday's Editors' Forum.
A US$10 MILLION (J$640 million) investment is being ironed out between the Government and St. Catherine's Worthy Park Estate to increase the island's sugar output.
The transaction will allow Worthy Park to acquire lands on Innswood Estate in the parish to expand its production.
According to Peter McConnell, Worthy Park's managing director, the funds are to be acquired through a Government loan.
Worthy Park is one of Jamaica's most efficient producers of sugar, processing some 6,000 tonnes of cane each day. The acquired land is expected to add some 15,000 tonnes of sugar to Worthy Park's sugar quota, pushing the annual production to some 38,000 tonnes.
"To enable us to survive in this new regime, we are in the process of negotiating with the Government, and I've been promised that I will get the land at Innswood," Mr. McConnell confirmed during a Gleaner Editors' Forum held yesterday at the company's North Street offices, central Kingston.
Currently, Innswood produces some 48,000 tonnes of cane per hectare and, according to Mr. McConnell, there should be no problem in moving the cane supply to 150,000 tonnes with proper management.
PROBLEMS TO ADDRESS
There are, however, some problems Government must address to ensure the investment stays afloat. These include widening, fixing and maintaining existing roads for improved transportation of cane between the Worthy Park and Innswood Estates.
Mr. McConnell said he was also concerned about the high interest rates on Government loans. He said interest rates on agricultural loans, set in the region at 10-11 per cent, have been a serious setback for the sector over the years.
"Agriculture quite frankly cannot afford the present interest rate system," he argued.
