Workers employed to the Monymusk Estate in Clarendon remove overgrown weeds from a sugar-cane field in June 2005. - File

As the divestment of Jamaica's ailing sugar industry looms large, The Sunday Gleaner will focus on the implication of this decision, starting today.

Even as talks continue between the Government and Infinity Bio-Energy Ltd, entities integrally involved in sugar-cane production are yet to have their new roles defined.

"We are not sure what our new function will be," says Karl James, general manager of Jamaica Cane Products Sales (JCPS), the organisation responsible for the commercialisation of the product.

He discloses that Jamaica Cane Products Sales has a contract with the Sugar Industry Authority(SIA), with a mandate to undertake the marketing of the sugar produced in Jamaica. Priority is given to fulfilling the country's quota obligation to the European Union (EU), he says, while ensuring there is sugar on the domestic market, plus the United States (US) quota, which has its own political goodwill to supply.

According to James, the Government had an arrangement with the EU under the sugar protocol, which guaranteed a certain quantity and price. This pact has since changed and the Government's obligation to the EU at the current price will end when the protocol expires on September 30, 2009.

Negotiate

Rickards

For this reason, the JCPS head argues that he expects the company's role to remain the same for this year. "We will still have to deliver the sugar, negotiate the freight, get the proceeds in, pay it out and account for all of it at the end of October for next year," James tells The Sunday Gleaner.

The Government and the new owners, if there are to be new ones, will then negotiate what the role of the JCPS will be.

Allan Rickards, chairman of the Jamaica Sugar Cane Growers' Association, which represents the planters, foresees additional functions for his organisation.

"At this point, we are the watchdogs of these talks," Rickards asserts. "We are not fully involved in the discussions, but we are kept abreast of what is happening," he adds.

According to Rickards, there is a sense of satisfaction with how the Government has handled the ongoing discussions. Having met with the investors, he says there is a mutual understanding between both groups.

Infinity Bio-Energy has already indicated that it will require 50 per cent of the sugar cane required for ethanol production from the cane farmers, a decision Rickards backs.

Farmers

James

"We want to be very real and active partners with the new owners," he says. "In order to produce the amount of cane required, some of the cane lands will have to be passed to our farmers, and that is what we will really like to happen, but this demand poses some challenges," adds Rickards.

He says the association has to lead the push for a dramatic increase in production from members. He indicated that attempts were being made to strengthen the field staff to ensure that the association could supply the stipulated amount of sugar cane when it is needed.

The organisation is, however, unwilling to leave the fate of the growers entirely up to the Government, and the investors will be seeking to play a more significant role in protecting the future of the industry in Jamaica.

"Infinity Bio will be 75 per cent owners, while the Government will hold the other 25 per cent. We intend to ask the Government to earmark some of their portion to us - and we are prepared to purchase it over a period of time because we want to have a seat on the board," says Rickards.

"With its 25 per cent, they are entitled to three seats on the board. We want one of those seats, because we need to be privy to what the decisions are at that level," he argues.

mark.titus@gleanerjm.com.