B.S.C.F.A’s Attorney Says Amend the Sugar Industry Regulations

Ahead of the inquiry, the B.S.C.F.A had hired Senior Counsel Magali Marin-Young to make presentations on its behalf. Today, Marin-Young expressed, on behalf of the association, the importance for the Commission to investigate the legal framework, as well as the Sugar Industry Regulations to see how it could strengthen them, the weaknesses and what she termed as the unequal bargaining power and lack of transparency and information.

 

Magali Marin-Young, S.C, Attorney for B.S.C.F.A

“You have one miller in the northern districts for Belize sugar cane farmers to sell their produce to. It is in effect, a monopoly. There is no other miller that the canefarmer can sell his sugarcane in any cost-effective manner. Santander is all the way near Cotton Tree in the Cayo District. For it to transport its sugarcane would make it highly inefficient, so the canefarmer has nobody else to sell but to the one miller in the northern districts. So, speaking on behalf of the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association, and as signaled by the CEO, I think it is time for us to seriously look at the legislative framework. It is not working. It leads to a contentious situation.”