BSI Drops Payout Demand, Minister Urges Unity

Back in late July, we told you about a major Supreme Court ruling that left the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association staring down a hefty half-a-million-dollar bill owed to BSI/ASR. But now, it looks like the mill won’t be chasing that payment after all. Still, beyond the courtroom drama and the big dollar figure, Agriculture Minister Jose Mai says it’s time for the millers and farmers to stop fighting and start working together, because the sugar industry is in trouble, and saving it will take teamwork.

 

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture

“From what I saw, the Prime Minister’s comment on the same question is that ASR has agreed not to proceed with charging the government. I do not know how those legalities work, if they can decide to do that or if the court has to decide, whether they have to write something to the court to say, hey I don’t want my money. I just wanted to make a point that any penny, any five cents spent on the wrong things and not in the production is a problem. So these things have to be dealt with differently. You cannot have a dying industry and the stakeholders fighting. On one sick bed you have the farmers, on the other sick bed you have ASR and they are fighting on the bed. It cannot be. We have to work differently.”