For the first time in eleven days – yesterday morning at 10 -the four
chimneys at the Tower Hill Sugar Factory in Orange Walk began churning out smoke.
The mills were running because as we reported on Friday – sugar cane farmers
called off the strike after a truce was brokered by acting Prime Minister Gaspar
Vega. Under that resolution, Belize Sugar Industries agreed to discontinue and
in fact remove the core sampler. The farmers in turn agreed to resume delivering
cane to the factory. As this footage which was taken on Sunday shows, the core
sampler is not in the picture.
The farmers went on strike on January 26th – in protest of the core sampling
unit. The core sampler was the basis of a new pricing mechanism in which farmers
were paid not for quantity but for quality.
And while they will be paid for quantity – and not quality – quality
will still matter. That is because with the loss of preferential sharing agreements
– open competition will demand better quality from Belize. BSI maintains
that is still necessary. Both sides have agreed to a new arrangement whereby
ministry of agriculture will go into cane fields to test for quality before
the cane is taken to Tower Hill for processing.
BSI estimates that in ten days of the strike, they lost $6 million. It is hoped
that Belize will still be able to meet its quota.
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