Panama Disease devastated Belize’s banana industry in the 1920s, and it was not until the 1970s, with the introduction of Grand Nain, a variety of banana that has resistance to the disease, that farmers, with tremendous support from the Government of Belize, got the courage to start planting bananas commercially again. This was the age of Belize’s Green Revolution, a period when much of our government’s investments were going into agriculture, a period when farmers’ cooperatives were on the rise.
A United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report says the Banana Growers’ Association was set up in 1971, and “in 1972 a plan was put forward to rehabilitate existing banana farms to ship to the U.K.” The Banana Control Board received a loan from the Caribbean Development Bank in 1973, and “farm units of 30-60 acres were given to tenant farmers making a total of 1,326 acres by 1974.”
The fledgling banana industry had its share of teething pains, and it didn’t help that it was hit by a couple hurricanes. In the early 1980s the industry was struggling, and when a UDP government came to power in 1984, it found the industry several millions of dollars in debt. The UDP’s solution was to sell it. Thus, under a UDP government in 1985, the entire banana industry fell into the control of a few large farmers.
In explaining the UDP government’s decision, the big farmers said they had greater vision than the smaller ones. But the fact is that the UDP 1984-89 did not favor collectivism. The UDP’s big sponsor was USAID; the UDP put much emphasis on sales of passports to rich Chinese citizens who were supposed to come to Belize and make major investments; and the UDP increased private ownership of the nation’s only telecommunications company, BTL, to 49%. By the time the UDP was booted from office in 1989, farmers’ cooperatives were on life support. The PUP government which took over came not to revive collectivism, but to finish it off.
Since taking full control of the banana industry, the large farmers have had great success. Banana plantations owned by the big boys now cover 6,500 acres in South Stann Creek and North Toledo, and they have a share of, or full control of, all associated businesses, including the port at Big Creek.
Initially, the port in Big Creek was limited to handling exports of bananas, and supplies of fertilizers and pesticides from Guatemala and Honduras for the plantations, but ever since a minister (or ministers) in a PUP government during the Musa administrations gave them the green light to get involved in other businesses, growth at the port has been rapid. Massive investments have flowed in to deepen the channel, expand storage capacity, and purchase modern equipment to increase efficiency.
Presently, at the Port of Big Creek – Toledo Enterprises Ltd. (PBCTEL) in South Stann Creek/North Toledo, are the old tanks that were used to store fuel from Venezuela that came in under the Petro Caribe Program; tanks that store crude oil for BNE; tanks that store butane, after a government gave monopoly control of imports of that product to an associated group; warehouses that store sugar and molasses produced by Santander, a new sugar company in the Cayo District; and facilities for the storage of sugar coming all the way from ASR/BSI in Orange Walk, after the sugar producers in the north made the incredible decision to truck their products across country all the way down south, instead of by sea to the port in Belize City, Port of Belize Ltd. (PBL), which it had been doing for many decades.
Business might be slow in other parts of Belize, but it is booming in Big Creek. The listed major shareholders of PBCTEL are Belizeans, so its success should be a plus all around for the country. Unfortunately, not all of its businesses make sense for Belize. In regard to its role as the nation’s number one handler of crude petroleum exports and butane imports, the port in Big Creek is perfectly suited, being set in a lagoon. If there should be a spill, the impact would be far less than it would be if the port was set by the sea. In regard to the handling of sugar, however, there are concerns.
This year PBCTEL will handle an estimated 75,000 tons of sugar and 30,000 tons of molasses produced by Santander. PBCTEL will also handle most of the sugar and molasses produced by ASR/BSI. In 2017, ASR/BSI produced over 140,000 tons of sugar and 40,000 tons of molasses.
The wear and tear on Belize’s highways that will be caused by transporting over 200,000 tons of sugar and molasses can’t be ignored, because it costs Belize almost $2 million to rehabilitate a mile on the George Price Highway, and it is costing almost $4 million to deliver a mile on the Manuel Esquivel Coastal Road. Sugar and molasses from Santander are being transported over 100 miles, to the port in Big Creek, when the distance to PBL in Belize City is about 45 miles. Sugar and molasses from ASR/BSI, which used to be transported by barge, will be transported over 150 miles, to the port in Big Creek, when the route by road to PBL in Belize City is about a third of that distance.
Why are sugar and molasses from Santander and ASR/BSI pounding holes on Belize’s highways and roads? This is a story as disturbing as the BTL saga, which saw Belize sell its most prized asset for a song, and buy it back for the entire orchestra. What is the reason for bypassing PBL? Is it because the receiver at PBL must have a cruise port in Belize City, even if our environmentalists say dredging to berth giant cruise ships is unsound and our tourism experts say the increased visitors brought in by a new cruise port will damage our product? Is it to deal a final blow to end unionized labor in Belize?
If sugar producers insist on bypassing PBL, there is a port in Commerce Bight, Stann Creek, which is almost 50 miles closer for their products than the port in Big Creek. At this time, Commerce Bight, our country’s only natural deep water port, languishes; its pier, which handled shipments of citrus products up to the turn of the last century, in a state of disrepair, and its ownership in confusion. Our country would realize considerable savings if this port was refurbished and sugar and molasses were shipped through it.
Belize is dependent on agricultural exports, but there are many other contributors to our economy. There is crushing poverty in our country, and we are wasting millions transporting sugar and molasses by road, all the way to Big Creek.