Prime Minister Bruce Golding's silence, during the Budget Debate, on the Government's efforts to divest its sugar interest was, to say the least, surprising.

Maybe it is that the prime minister is a bit shy to make public pronouncements on the matter, given the Government's earlier bungling effort at privatisation, culminating finally with the collapse in January of its negotiations with the Brazil-based firm, Infinity Bio-Energy. Infinity, led by US private-equity investors, it turned out, couldn't raise the US$125 million it needed to acquire and upgrade the facilities.

But it is not only Mr Golding who is quiet on the divestment. Both his agriculture minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, and the head of the team overseeing the divestment, Aubyn Hill, have been unwilling to speak on the progress of the effort.

Fertile ground for rumour

This, we think, is unfortunate and is for us a matter of some concern. For an absence of transparency provides fertile ground for rumour and speculation and, sometimes, poor decision making. It appears that we may be heading down the latter route.

For example, there have recently been a number of reports, including some in this newspaper, identifying firms that apparently have been shortlisted, if not formally deemed, to be preferred bidders, with which the Government is willing to negotiate the sale of various bits of the sugar assets. Our great surprise is that none of those reports have featured the names of the McConnell family-controlled Worthy Park Estate, or the Appleton Sugar Factory, which is part of the Lascelles deMercado Group.

These two firms operate the most efficient sugar factories in Jamaica, which have been able to hold their own in a difficult market even as the Government's factories lost money hand over fist. Unlike the state-owned Sugar Company of Jamaica, they have not come to taxpayers for bailouts.

But like other sugar producers which depend primarily on the preferential market of the European Union (EU) for their sales, both Worthy Park and Appleton will face increasing pressure as the Europeans continue to reduce subsidies to sugar producers at home and abroad. Indeed, the EU's guaranteed price for the product will fall by more than a third next year.

Need for additional land

The owners of Worthy Park and Appleton have for years signalled their need for additional lands to grow sugar cane so as to increase their throughput and drive efficiency at their factories. The Innswood Estate in St Catherine would be suitable for Worthy Park, while Appleton has sought lands in Clarendon.

We would have thought that these firms, given their long history and proven track record in the industry, would be at the top of any list for sugar-related lands or associated facilities being divested by the Jamaican Government. We hope the Government thinks so, too.

This matter is not disconnected from the issue of our call yesterday for new, aggressive action on the part of the Government to protect domestic agriculture. For, as we pointed out, the global recession is exacerbating the crisis of underdevelopment, joblessness and poverty in Jamaica's rural communities. If companies like Worthy Park and Appleton stumble, the rural crisis will only deepen.

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