Jamaica Government To Briefly Operate Financially Troubled Sugar Factory

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Mar. 30, (CMC) – The Jamaica government says, it will operate the financially troubled Long Pond Sugar Factory in Trelawny, for three months, in order to save cane produced for this year’s crop.

“The principals of EFL (Everglades Farm Limited) have indicated that they are not in a position to start up the factory due to their financial situation, (but) are prepared to allow the government of Jamaica to start up and operate the factory for three months to take off the canes in Trelawny,” Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Karl Samuda told Parliament on Tuesday night.

He told legislators, that it is imperative that the factory immediately commence operations in order to rescue the more than 95,000 tonnes of cane that have not been reaped. He warned, that if the canes were not reaped this year “we can simply forget about the sugar industry in Trelawny”.

Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Karl Samuda. Photo credit: JIS.

Samuda said, the new Andrew Holness government, through Sugar Company of Jamaica Holdings and EFL, has been working out the details of the engagement, informing legislators that they would be kept abreast of the developments.

“When I return and give you the full plan of what we hope to do, which should have been done from December (2015), it is zero exposure to the Government,” he said.

He said, the government, which came to power following the February 25 general election, has no intention of going back into sugar, or spending money on any program for which it must depend on sugar, and expose itself to the attendant risks.

Samuda also confirmed that China’s Pan-Caribbean Sugar Company (PCSC), which owns the Frome, Monymusk and Bernard Lodge sugar operations, has said that it has no intention of doing anything at Monymusk in Clarendon for next year’s crop.

He said, that the government was having consultations with cane farmers, the principals of PCSC, and all the necessary stakeholders to devise a workable plan for consideration by the Cabinet to keep Monymusk operational.