The Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association is demanding that the Briceño administration fast-track the work of the sugar industry’s commission of inquiry. The agreed deadline for the commission to be established and its investigation to commence has passed. Well, Prime Minister John Briceño says he has already explained the hold up to the B.S.C.F.A. Here is what he told us.
Prime Minister John Briceño
Prime Minister John Briceño
“I think the BSCFA if they and I have explained it to them, if they want to be fair, they would understand why it has not happened. It so happened that when the terms of the commission was presented, the minister in his haste to try to get this done quickly, there was not consultations with BSI and the three other associations. There were only consultations with the BSCFA. So the commission of inquiry is headed by the prime minister. It is my responsibility to ensure there are proper consultations by everyone. If you do not have proper consultations then you could have one of the associations or BSI not participate and if they do not participate then it is going to be a waste of time and money. We have contacted the two persons from Brazil that has done similar work in El Salvador and we are in the process of being able to sign a contract with them to be able to work with the other two person that are coming in. So we are working on that. It is of no use to call the commission of inquiry and nobody participates. It is a waste of time.”
We received a brief statement from the prime minister on the High Court’s ruling in relation to the Sugar Import/ Export Regulations. Prime Minister Briceño says he is not surprised by the ruling. He added that the government will adhere to the court’s decision.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“I have not gotten a chance to read the report, but to be honest with you I am not surprised. And that was some of the concerns we raised. And so, we will follow the law and if the law says it is unconstitutional then we will make the necessary amends.”
Recently, the government of Costa Rica issued a state of emergency after two hundred and three cases of screwworm were detected among various animals such as cattle, horses, pigs, sheep and dogs. Screwworms are a species of parasitic fly that is well known for the way in which its larvae eat the living tissue of warm-blooded animals. The recent breakout originated but has since moved upward to Costa Rica, leaving some to wonder if this will have any effects on Belize’s cattle Industry. We spoke with Minister of Agriculture, Jose Mai for more Information. News Five’s Britney Gordon Reports.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
Belize’s cattle industry has been on the rise for the past few years, increasing a reported 21.4 percent between 2022 and 2023. This generated over seventy million, five hundred thousand dollars in revenue. Belizean cattle is also certified disease-free, but a recent outbreak of screwworm detected in Panama and Costa Rica has raised concerned about the security of the cattle industry. Minister of Agriculture, Jose Mai, briefed us on the situation.
Jose Abelardo Mai
Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture
“Last year, October, I think it was that, cases of Screwworms showed up in Panama. I believe it Screwworms were eradicated from Belize in 1993, I think it was. I was a member of the technical staff that worked then eradicating squirrels from Belize. So we eradicated Screwworms in nineties, ninety-three, I think, nine-two, ninety-three. Thereafter, Guatemala eradicated, Salvador all the way down to Panama. There’s a natural barrier between Panama and Colombia where the flies don’t come over. But for some reason or the other, last year they claim climate change and they claim the migration of people from South America into North, into Central America. They claim that that must have been the reason why we found the screwworm flies now in Panama. From Panama it then spilled over to Costa Rica. Panama right now has more than a thousand cases, I think. Costa Rica has a number of cases. I think they found two hundred and two last week. And they, actually they made a declaration, an emergency declaration, that they’re having Screwworms”.
Mai further stated that countries that have invested heavily in cattle such as Mexico, the United States, Belize, and Guatemala are especially concerned about the outbreak due to the risk of significant economic damage to the industry.
Jose Abelardo Mai
“But every country in Central America through ORISA, which is the Regional Organization for animal and Plant Health, are working together to put a plan to try to contain the spread of this pest. Now, you will probably know that the way how screwworms are controlled is by releasing sterile flies. There is a plant in Panama that produces sterile flies and then these are spread across the areas that have incidences and when they mate with the fertile flies, then the eggs do not hatch, so you break the cycle. But we understand that there’s not enough flies to disperse in the area. Hence we are having increased cases of worms. So it is a concern for all of us. We have stepped up our surveillance programs. We do not allow cattle or any animals to come into the country because they can be infected. And so the movement of animals across the region is slowing down. It’s being watched carefully. So we have stepped up our game to that.”
We also spoke with Roxanna Alvarez, Chief Veterinary Officer & Technical Director of Animal Health of BAHA, who gave further insight into Belize’s current preventative measures.
Roxanna Alvarez
Roxanna Alvarez, Chief Veterinary Officer & Technical Director of Animal Health, BAHA
“What we’ve been doing is that we’ve been sending regular press releases out to remind the public of animal health emergencies. We’ve been encouraging farmers and producers through their association groups that they need to report cases of masses. This is actually when there is an infestation of a wound by larvae. So we’re asking farmers to repeat report cases of this to their local livestock officers or to our BAHA offices. So, we’ve started that process already. We’ve also been working at training our field officers and our laboratory officers in identification in prevention and treatment and all of this of the screwworm and we’re participating in regional workshops on the response to these emergencies.”
Mai explained that sterile flies are a key part of containing the outbreak and neighboring countries are pooling resources in order to ensure that every nation is equipped.
Jose Abelardo Mai
“Now, there is a call from Mexico to us, to help in financing the cost of dispersing flies. It’s not a cheap operation to produce the flies and to disperse. Mexico has asked us to I believe we will have to every region, every country in the region will have to add some kind of resource in no specific quantities, but we have to just contribute to controlling the outbreak. If we don’t do so today, it will be even more expensive in the next year or so. So we will step up our game quick and do it very fast.”
On the topic of cattle, last week, up to three truckloads of Belizean cattle were turned away at the Mexican border due to a change in cattle importation regulations. Reportedly, the cattle was stalled by an entire day after being sent back to Belize before being returned the following day. Reporter Britney Gordon has the story.
Jose Abelardo Mai
Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture
“Last week, I think Tuesday three truckloads were returned back to Belize. I’m not sure why or under what technical reason I did have to communicate with the Minister of Agriculture, my counterpart in Mexico City, and the cattle were allowed to leave the following day, but thereafter both countries’ animal health authorities met to decide what was the problem how to solve it.”
Britney Gordon, Reporting
Agriculture Minister Jose Mai told News Five that he along with a number of health directors and representatives from Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA), travelled to Mexico to sort out the matter.
Jose Abelardo Mai
“There we were informed that the protocols had changed. And so we have to adapt to the changes that they have asked us to do. And they asked us a number of things. One is that we have to use an OIRSA vet now, which is not a bad idea. It’s a good idea. We’ll have some additional costs, of course. And two is that we will need to put a corral. I call it a border corral. And they wanted to put it as close as possible to the border for their animal health inspectors to come and do inspection for the cattle to go. They said to us that this is what Guatemala is doing. So We traveled to Guatemala immediately after to look at what they have, the border between Guatemala and Mexico to look at their facility.”
Mai stated that the representatives were able to negotiate an agreement in which Belize would update its facilities to proceed with cattle exportation into Mexico.
Jose Abelardo Mai
“And the most challenging part will be to have a corral near the border within eighteen months. That is the most challenging part, but I’m sure that we will, we already started to work on a plan of how to move forward with that. The important thing, though, is that cattle continue to be exported from Belize from the entire country which is a good thing. Cattle exports can generate up to ninety million. We exported forty thousand head last year. We have about ten thousand consumed locally. So we’re talking maybe Close to ninety million dollars. And the export is very important. So we need to keep the markets open. We need to do what we need to do to keep that market going.”
