Sugar Production Falls to 35-Year Low

Sugar production has fallen to a thirty-five-year low, and José Mai says northern Belize cannot continue with business as usual. The former agriculture minister wants government and industry stakeholders to push diversification and give farmers more options. But he is also taking aim at what he calls a monopoly within the industry.

 

Jose Mai, Former Minister of Agriculture

“And I will blame you the media for that too, because you only speak about the monopoly of BTL, monopoly of BTL, but you don’t speak about the monopoly of the cane industry. By law we are forced to be in a monopoly, because section sixty one clearly states that the first one point five million tons goes to BSI. So you are obligated to sell to BSI. Now that section is unconstitutional and you all know it, but you the media people only speak about BTL and Smart and forget the cane farmers. But that can be corrected and amended easily and it might open the doors for people who want to invest in something else.”

 

Mai argues that sugarcane’s true value now lies in energy production, not sugar alone.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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