Early Close to Sugar Season Highlights Industry Challenges  

Belize’s 2026 sugar crop has come to an early end, with the season closing ahead of schedule after factories processed fewer cane deliveries than anticipated. While production in the north showed only modest gains over last year, stronger performance in the west helped boost overall sugar output. Minister of State for Economic Transformation Dr. Osmond Martinez says the industry is moving in the right direction, but stresses that significant investment and reforms are still needed to improve productivity, particularly among northern cane farmers.

 

Dr. Osmond Martinez, Minister of State, Economic Transformation

“The performance was much– a little bit better than last year. Still, I think maybe about one or two percent better. Nonetheless, there is a lot of work that we need to continue to do in the sugar industry. I am referring now to the north. When it comes to the west, there has been a significant improve. So in general, the sugar industry, when combined with the north and the west, we will see about ten to fifteen percent increase in terms of tons of sugar, raw sugar that will be produced when compared to last year. So in general, it was good. Are we happy? Are we satisfied? No, we are not satisfied. There is a lot of work that we need to do in the north. The government of Belize will be pumping, well we have already started to, but there is a stimulus package of fourteen million Belize dollars that are being invested through the CRESAP project in the northern part of the country. In addition through the Five Cs, there is a fifty million dollars Belize dollars that are being invested. And specifically, we need to focus on replanting. We need to focus on the quality of the soil, drainage and also to continue to improve the knowledge transfer from those who know it to the MSMEs, the small farmers that we have in the north.”

 

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