J$1b more for sugar expansion

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has set aside approximately J$1 billion for the continued development of the sugar industry over five years.

The funds are in addition to the J$523 million already budgeted, and will be made available up to 2015-16 for modernisation, Minister Robert Montague said in early August.

The Cane Expansion Fund, which is administered by the Sugar Industry Authority (SIA), focuses on improving the cane farms' infrastructure, particularly irrigation and drainage, in keeping with the ministry's vision of expanded sugarcane production.

Montague said the agriculture ministry will also be implementing the recommendations of the Sugar Industry Commission, chaired by Professor Alvin Wint, which addressed reshaping the institutional, regulatory and marketing arrangements within the industry, given the new market realities in Europe and privatisation in Jamaica.

He said it is significant that the commission has recommended the preservation of the SIA. The Sugar Industry Control Act, which gave birth to the SIA, made provisions for the non-centralisation of the marketing of sugar, through a licensing regime.

"In principle, therefore, individual manufacturers can market their own sugar, under licence from the SIA, providing they subscribe to the uniform cane-payment system," he said.