Broken Sugar Roads Leave Cane Farmers Stuck as Budget Falls Short

We’re following up tonight on a problem hitting cane farmers right as the sugar crop gets underway. On Friday, we told you that farmers are already running into serious trouble, roads so bad, they can’t even get their cane to the factory. According to Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association Chairperson Salvador Martin, the conditions are costing farmers time and money. So today, we took those concerns straight to the Minister of Infrastructure Development and Housing, Julius Espat. His ministry has an annual budget of one‑point‑five million dollars to fix sugar roads, but as he tells us, that money simply isn’t enough.

 

Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development and Housing

“There is not enough budget for the sugar road. We know that. We have a very limited budget and we go in when its necessary. We are in there right now working as best as we can. We need to get a little more budget to work with the sugar road. To be honest with you. Well you could have a million committees and if you don’t have the budget it makes no difference. I think the Ministry of Finance will have to decide if they will increase the allocation to the sugar roads.”

 

Paul Lopez

“The upgrade has been left sole to the ministry?”

 

Julius Espat

“We have a one point five million dollar budget to deal with all the sugar road on an annual basis, which is absolutely nothing. We have been lobbying with the ministry of Finance to increase it and hopefully they have been listening and give us a little more for that.”

 

And as the minister made clear, without a bigger allocation from the Ministry of Finance, farmers may continue battling impassable sugar roads, because, as he put it, no amount of committees can fix roads without the money to do it.