Sugar Redux

Once again I return to the problems faced by the sugar industry and the seemingly deliberate policy of government to strangle the independent growers while writing open cheques for the BAMC and the sugar factory operations. Last year, I asked why we were operating two sugar factories when Andrews Factory was fully capable of processing all of the sugar cane that was harvested last year. Closing Portvale Factory would produce a saving of between ten to fifteen million dollars per year that would flow from concentrating processing in a single location at Andrews and restructuring administrative functions. It would also bring to an end that long cherished pipedream of the Ministry of agriculture – a new 200 million dollar factory that we can ill afford.

When the question was posed last year about consolidating the sugar refining operations at Andrews Factory it was met with a deafening silence. This year, with increased economic constraints and a further decline in sugar cane production a solution becomes all the more urgent.

To arrest the accelerating decline in sugar cane cultivation we should create a level playing field of subsidy for all growers on the island with a view to improving efficiency of the field operations. Under the present arrangement there is a glaring inequity between what government spends on the BADMC plantation production and the price paid to private plantation operators for sugar cane. If this continues one can only draw the conclusion that the government is deliberately driving the private plantation owners into unsustainable losses that can only be corrected by discontinuing sugar cane cultivation. In this way when the sugar industry collapses the government will have someone to blame other than themselves.


Barbadians deserve better than this from those entrusted with guiding our development, diversifying our economy and protecting our environment. The value of sugar cane cultivation has been extensively documented and debated in our society. It is more than the production of sugar and rum. It plays a part in crop rotation and diversified agriculture as well as contributing to the esthetic value that enhances our hospitality industry.

It is time that we took some hard headed economic decisions that focused on dealing equitably with all those involved in the cultivation of sugar cane and it’s processing, while providing incentives for improved productivity every step of the way.

Today the private sugar cane farmers are paid less than 50 dollars a ton while production cost for the most efficient growers is 100 dollars a ton. By contrast analysis of the latest BAMC annual report and the Government’s Estimates of Expenditure, indicates that it costs the BAMC 200 dollars a ton to grow sugar cane. This rising disparity cannot continue, but there seems to be no effort to rein in the expenses and improve efficiency of the BAMC operations.

The result of all this is that private growers are losing at least 50 dollars a ton on what they grow and harvest while the BAMC’s full cost is picked up by the tax payer which is the same as paying the BAMC 200 dollars a ton for sugar cane. It would be far better if the BAMC and the private growers were paid the same support price of approximately 130 dollars a ton to encourage expanded private production and more efficient BAMC operations.

Without decisive and urgent action the collapse of the sugar industry is inevitable as we plummet below the critical mass of a 25 thousand ton sugar production capacity. It would be useful to know if the government has a plan for the twenty thousand acres that will become available. Thus far it seems to be a choice between growing wild tamarind like the Kingsland estates, or houses on the most fertile and productive lands of Clico in St. John.

That’s not an agricultural policy! It’s a disaster!!

phillip.goddard@braggadax.com