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Belize, BSCFA, and ASR-BSI

EditorialBelize, BSCFA, and ASR-BSI

For the good of Belize we all want the milling of sugarcane to start on schedule, around the second week in December. It’s been the case for some years now that there’s a difference between the millers ASR (American Sugar Refining, Inc.)/BSI (Belize Sugar Industries Ltd.), and the largest cane farmer group, the BSCFA (Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association), about the division of monies the mill collects. The cane farmers have not been making much off their labors for years, and they want more, which they feel they deserve, and ASR-BSI insists on the status quo, a 65 (farmers) – 35 (millers) revenue-sharing agreement that was set eons ago.

The sugar industry is extremely important to Belize. A factsheet from the ASR-BSI Group says the factory at Tower Hill in the Orange Walk District mills cane produced by 5,000 independent farmers, supports 15% of our country’s population, and contributes around 5% of our GDP, and the green energy it produces provides 15% of our nation’s electrical energy needs.

The agribusiness group, Wilmar, says 180 million metric tons (MT) of sugar is produced annually, with 50 MT of that being consumed where it is produced. The group says the global consumption of sugar is rising between 1% and 2% per year, and the price is a factor of actual consumption and production, and “statistical forecasts for future years.” Because of our small size, we have no control over world market prices, our annual production of 125,000 to 140,000 MT of sugar (156,646 MT was our best year) accounting for less than 0.1% of world production.

There’s nothing unusual about the cane producers and the millers haggling over their share of what is earned when our sugar is sold on the world market. Back in 2011 the BSCFA, tired of being unable to get what it considers its rightful share, moved to acquire controlling shares in BSI (Belize Sugar Industries Ltd.), the company which owns the sugarcane mill at Tower Hill. At the time, BSI owed over $120 million to foreign banks, and in fact was only able to carry through the 2010/11 season with financial assistance from the government. The GOB (UDP) respected the ambitions of the BSCFA, but did not think their acquisition of majority shares in BSI feasible.

The GOB favored a takeover by Banco Atlántida, a group from Honduras. The BSCFA firmly rejected Banco Atlántida’s bid, especially because the group wanted a number of concessions, a critical one being the right to produce 50% of the sugarcane for the factory, a move that would have destroyed BSCFA. After the Banco Atlántida deal fell through, ASR’s interest in BSI became known.

Since taking control of BSI in 2012, ASR has improved milling efficiency, and began producing direct consumption sugars. This year ASR-BSI also started shipping sugar by road to the port in Big Creek instead of by barge to the port in Belize City (PBL), a move which it claims has resulted in considerable savings for the company and the farmers.

How sugar went from barge to truck, and from one port to another twice the distance away, is lamentable. If we had had a “mixed economy” government instead of a capitalist one between 1998 and 2003, the stevedores at PBL would have gotten shares in the company, and along with other private shareholders and government they would have been able to access the funds to improve the facilities at PBL. And farmers would have realized double the savings ASR-BSI claims they made with the move to ship sugar by road all the way to Big Creek.

Despite the restructuring that has been done, things are as bad as ever for farmers, as bad as back in 2015 when, because of the severely depressed price of sugar on the world market, the GOB (UDP) approved an increase of 50%, 25 cents, on the control price of sugar sold on the local market, the subsidy going to both farmers and millers.

To forestall any impasse this season, in June this year the GOB installed former Minister of Natural Resources and Deputy Prime Minister, Florencio Marin, Sr., as an advisor, and his task was to broker a new commercial agreement between BSCFA and ASR-BSI before the 2022-23 season got started. But the gulf between the two entities is too wide, far too wide. To date there is no agreement, and if the season is to start on time, less than a month remains to get the signatures in place.

The present government (PUP) supported the BSCFA’s move to acquire majority control of BSI a decade ago, but as it stands at present, BSI is a privately owned company, with ASR, at last reports, holding about 80% of the shares. It didn’t sit well with the BSCFA when the PM, Hon. John Briceño, said he couldn’t see ASR giving BSCFA all that it wanted, that what BSCFA wanted could drive the company into bankruptcy.

It’s a difficult situation for farmers. The price of sugar on the world market is high at this time, but because of the escalating cost of imported inputs, the cost of producing export crops has never been higher. We have seen small banana farmers squeezed out of the banana industry, small citrus and grain growers are a dying breed, and now the small cane farmers are in danger, battling for their livelihoods.

ASR-BSI would love to go the way of Santander, which produces the bulk of the sugarcane it mills. ASR-BSI would want an open license, to increase its production beyond 150,000 tons, and for only big farmers to participate in the industry. Belizeans who cherish the independence of small farmers are hoping the government can broker a solution that will serve the small cane farmers. But Belizeans across the length and breadth of the country are also concerned that the milling starts on time.

Happy Garifuna Settlement Day!

When we think of our Garinagu brothers and sisters, our first thoughts are about their drums and their songs, and their indomitable spirit, their belief that they will overcome, no matter the odds. On the painful trip from St. Vincent, to exile in Roatan, Honduras, it was that spirit that helped them survive. And it was that same indomitable spirit that led them to Belize, their new Yurumein.

Our Garinagu brothers and sisters faced difficulties in Belize too; they had to fight racism and marginalization in their new home. But theirs is a story of triumph, and their triumph is our triumph, for the Garinagu brought many gifts to our shores. The list of heroes the Garinagu have given Belize is long. They have excelled in every endeavor, as fishermen and as farmers, in music, in sports, in education. As the beloved Brother Kai, Sebastian Cayetano, reminded us when he visited with the crew on the KREM Morning Stew on Monday, in earlier days it was Garinagu teachers who went forth, canoed across rivers, waded across creeks, and slogged through mud and “high bush” to teach rural children and youth.

The drums are beating, and people are singing; they are beating drums and singing tonight all across our beautiful land. It is a celebration of the Garinagu, and Belize. Happy Garifuna Settlement Day to all!

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